It might surprise you that the majority of people still use the word 'password' and the sequence of '123...' to create their passwords.
The Cybernews Investigation Team compiled a list of the most commonly used passwords and phrases used by people around the world.
In total, 15,212,645,925 passwords were gathered, of which 2,217,015,490 were unique.
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Here is the list of the ten most commonly used passwords in 2024:
- 123456
- 123456789
- qwerty
- password
- 12345
- qwerty123
- 1q2w3e
- 12345678
- 111111
- 1234567890
The results are surprisingly very similar to the list of 2023.
What's also concerning is that most of these passwords don't even reach the minimum 8-character length.
Privacy expert Jason Wise weighed in saying: ‘Considering how many different passwords you need to use daily, it’s understandable to use simple passwords or the same one for everything.'
‘If you are using one of the most common passwords in 2024 or any variant mentioned in this guide, it’s time to change it,’ he added.
The Cybersecurity team collected data from publicly leaked data breaches, including the Breach Compilation, Collection #1-5, and other databases.
They then anonymised the data and detached the passwords so that the data could be analysed in isolation, leading the investigative team to find the most popular passwords and phrases used.
They also dissected the ways in which people chose their passwords, discovering that most passwords related to users' 'favourite sports teams, cities, food, and even curse words.'
For instance, the user's choice of a specific year in the password could even hint at their probable age.
To optimise online security, the cyber experts recommend using a password generator. These tools can create unique passwords of 12 characters that include numbers, special characters, and both lower and uppercase letters.
According to a report by Scientific American, it is 62 trillion times harder to crack a password with 12 characters than a password with six characters.
Moreover, password managers can store all your passwords in one secure place so you don't have to endure the hassle of remembering them all.
Experts also warn that passwords alone aren't enough to keep accounts safe online. As an extra layer of protection between the password and the account, they recommend using multi-factor authentication.
According to Security.org, 61% of users impacted by password hacking admitted to having passwords shorter than eight characters in 2023. Additionally, only 64% of the passwords were 8 to 11 characters long.