Personal passwords give you access to, among other things, your game accounts and the streaming platforms you use. It is even more important that your passwords are not easy to crack. Unfortunately, a list of the most popular passwords for 2023 proves otherwise.
As you browse the Internet, you need more and more accounts and access data, which are absolutely necessary on different websites. Whether it’s your expensive gaming account, access to streaming providers, or your login details for online banking.
Without your passwords, you will no longer have access to your data or the different platforms you use. However, many make it easier for hackers to guess the passwords they use by choosing simple sequences of numbers or easy-to-guess words as passwords. Here you can find out which are the worst passwords in 2023. Is your favorite password included?
Popular passwords are cracked in seconds
What are the weakest passwords this year? Security company Nord Security Inc. worked with independent researchers to compile a list of the most popular passwords. These have been published annually on nordpass.com since 2019.
Most results apply worldwide, but the top 200 can also be filtered by country of origin. Here are the 10 most popular passwords in Germany.
| range | password | Time needed to break | Number |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | administration | < 1 second | 18,997 |
| 2 | 123456 | < 1 second | 16,914 |
| 3 | cake made with eggs | 2 hours | 9,039 |
| 4 | 12345678 | < 1 second | 5,860 |
| 5 | 123456789 | < 1 second | 5,515 |
| 6 | yxcvbnm | 6 seconds | 5,419 |
| 7 | password | < 1 second | 4,848 |
| eighth | shit password | 2 months | 3,011 |
| 9 | 12345 | < 1 second | 2,897 |
| 10 | niclas23 | 3 hours | 2,818 |
Passwords made up of simple number sequences and simple words like password/password are very noticeable. These passwords are discovered in a few seconds or even a fraction of a second. As soon as a password becomes more complex, cracking it takes much longer. This report shows how quickly passwords can be cracked.
How did this list come about? To do this, the American company and the external cybersecurity research group used huge databases. Your data was evaluated and analyzed. According to Nord Security Inc., no personal data was transferred.
The data obtained was recorded as purely statistical information. This allows an individual evaluation by country and category/platform used. Password lists from 2019 to 2022 are also available for anyone interested to download in PDF format.
Do gamers use better passwords than the general public? No, unfortunately that is not the case. Even in the gaming category, the top 10 are almost exclusively sequences of simply chosen numbers that hackers can quickly determine.
| range | password | Number |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12345678910 | 112,900 |
| 2 | 987654321 | 40,653 |
| 3 | 87654321 | 23,323 |
| 4 | qwertyuiop | 16,846 |
| 5 | 12345678901 | 16,663 |
| 6 | 11223344 | 14,852 |
| 7 | 111111111 | 12,832 |
| eighth | 1234567891 | 12,724 |
| 9 | 12345678900 | 12,305 |
| 10 | 123456789 | 12,247 |
How is password strength calculated? Password strength was calculated by independent researchers. To do this, they evaluated the average number of attempts required to crack a password for a specific platform/category. The best rating was given to a randomly generated password with 20 characters.
At least gamers aren’t at the bottom when it comes to average password strength compared to other categories. This was given with the value 7.5. In other categories, users still chose weak passwords. Passwords used on streaming service platforms, online purchases and your own email address have an even worse rating.
Tips for better passwords
What can I do to make my passwords harder to crack? Thanks to advanced technology, hackers are gaining access to data faster and easier. But the stronger a password is, the harder it is for Internet scammers to do their job. Now there is also an AI that listens to you type your passwords.
Here are some tips for blocking hackers’ access and accounts:
- Choose passwords that are as complex as possible: the longer a password is, the more time it will take a hacker to crack it. Even better is a combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers and special characters.
- An extra password per access: Internet users often use a specific password for several websites at the same time. If a hacker gets hold of your data, it will be easy for them to steal your other accounts if your username/email address and password are completely identical. So make the effort to think of a new password every time.
- Update your passwords regularly: Although you may be using more complex passwords now, you may have older passwords that are very easy to guess. It is best to update this as soon as possible. To be even more secure on the Internet, it is also advisable to continually check even more complex passwords.
- Use useful tools, after all, hackers do it too: In the arms race against hacking tools, you can now use programs that make it easier for you to manage passwords or eliminate them altogether. With the so-called password manager, you only need to remember one master password. The administrator manages all other passwords for you. Most tools also offer you the ability to create complex passwords with the push of a button.
You can find more tips for strong passwords here