What are the Most Commonly Used Passwords of 2020

It’s high time we took stock of this year and defined the most popular passwords of 2020. Or, rather, “the least secure passwords”?

Keep reading and figure out why “most common passwords” doesn’t equal “strong passwords”. Learn how to create unique, strong passwords for every different service or application. And finally: how to keep your passwords and account credentials safe in the top-notch Passwarden storage?

List of the most popular passwords of 2020

Let's face the truth, most people are used to creating easy-to-remember passwords. And in doing so, they don’t ask themselves how strong their passwords are and how long it takes for an attacker to crack them. The majority of people create simple passwords just because it’s convenient. They still don't seem to be aware of the fact that if a password is easy for you to remember, it’s easy for a hacker to crack it.

Here are the top 5 categories of the most common passwords (least secure passwords) of this year:

1. Numbers

• The password “123456789” was the second most frequent password and was used by аlmoust a million users all over the world. 
• “1234567890” takes the 9th place with 170 thousand users. Both these passwords could be hacked in less than a minute.

2. “Password”

• 360 thousand people use the word “password” as their password. That’s really funny, isn’t it?
• 167 thousand seem to be Portuguese, as their password is “senha”, which means “password” in Portuguese.
• 20 thousand strongly believe that if they add numbers to their password it becomes more complex, so they use “password123”. And they are right! Combining several types of characters is an extremely effective way to strengthen the password.

3. Keyboard patterns

• The most common keyboard-pattern password is “qwerty” - it is used by 156 thousand people.
• 64 thousand users choose the extended version of this pattern “qwertyuiop” as their password.

4. Personal information

• Ashley and Michael are the two most popular names that are used as passwords.
• The names Daniel, Samantha, Charlie, and Jordan are also popular. They are used by 100 thousand users and could be cracked in less than half an hour.

5. Dictionary words

• 42 thousand people use passwords “princess” or “sunshine”.
• “football” and “baseball” are also popular passwords - they are used by 28 thousand.

Important: If your passwords fall into these categories, we strongly recommend you to change them and create something a bit more hacker-proof using a mix of numbers, letters, and special characters.

Most common WiFi passwords

Not only passwords of different accounts, email services, or web applications could be hacked. WiFi hotspots are at risk too. Moreover, a weak WiFi password could serve as a key to the data of the connected devices and your sensitive information. Thus, a secure WiFi password is essential.

Here are the most common WiFi passwords:

1. 123456789
2. 12345678
3. Abcd1234
4. 1234abcd
5. Password
6. password
7. Abcdefgh
8. Password.
9. 12345678.
10. 123456789.

All of these passwords are easy-to-remember, easy-to-guess, and easy-to-crack.

Protect your digital life with a complex password

Here are some tips for you on how to improve your password security.

Use a random set of characters instead of dictionary words

Most dictionary passwords contain one or two words and could be brute-forced using a dictionary attack. A dictionary attack is a method of entering every word possible in a dictionary as a password. This attack is likely to succeed because of the limited number of dictionary words.

However, when you’re using random characters in a password, an attacker has to brute-force many more combinations, which takes much longer.

Avoid using personal information

If you are not a collateral target, be sure that cybercriminals will study your Facebook and Instagram accounts and they definitely will try your name, surname, and date of birth when attempting to crack your passwords.

Make sure not to use personal information in your passwords. It’s better to use random passwords that look like you dropped something on your keyboard.

Don’t use keyboard patterns

This year, keyboard pattern becomes even more popular - a quarter of all most common passwords are keyboard patterns. And the most used keyboard pattern is...you guessed it...“qwerty”!

Diagonal keyboard pattern variations like “1q2w3e4r” and number combinations like “1234567890” are also widely used. The only one issue is that the cracking time of keyboard pattern passwords is less than one minute.

Create long passwords that contain different types of characters

One of the simplest and widely-used ways of hacking passwords is a brute-force attack. This method relies on submitting all possible combinations until the correct one is discovered. Thus, the longer your password is and the more different characters you use - the more combinations there is to check and the more time this process takes.

For more information about the brute force attack and optimal password length, check the article How long it takes to crack a password.

Enable two-factor authentication

If 2FA is supported by services and applications that you use, we strongly recommend you to turn it on! The main idea of this security measure is to employ two different authentication types: something you know (your password) and something you have (one-time code sent to your email address).

Two-factor authentication will serve as a rock-solid shield between your valuable data stored in the application and the hackers trying to guess your password.

Don’t reuse your passwords

Remember this important rule: use every password once for a single account. Why? If an attacker gets lucky and cracks your password on one account, they will likely check if you use the same password on other services or accounts. Therefore, we highly recommend you to use unique passwords.

Not sure you can remember all of them? Check out our comprehensive guide on how to remember dozens of strong passwords and see how these tips work for you.

Change your passwords every 6 months

As we now know, any password can be cracked, the only question is - how long will this process take. That’s why we recommend changing your passwords every 6 months, regardless of their strength.

Bonus: Get started with a reliable password manager

It’s quite challenging (almost impossible) to remember hundreds of unique, complex, and secure passwords for every single service and application you use.

But don’t you worry! Our secure password manager is at your disposal. Get started with the Passwarden password manager and allow it to remember everything for you. You only have to memorize one Master password, which is nowhere near as challenging as remembering all your passwords.

More about Passwarden:

• You can use Passwarden on any number of devices. Our password manager is compatible with all popular OS and commonly used browsers. 
• Our reliable password manager implements bulletproof AES-256 and ЕС р-384 protocols and end-to-end encryption.
• In addition to passwords, you can also store secure notes, driver’s license, ID card, software licenses, and much more.
• Passwarden provides two-factor authentication to add an extra layer of protection.
• Thanks to the secure sharing feature, you can share Vaults with your friends and family and be sure your data stays protected.
• Passwarden provides the Duress mode feature. It hides your most sensitive data in case you need to open your password manager application under duress.

The bottom line of the most common passwords

• It is safe to say that the most common passwords and least secure passwords are synonymous. 
• There are 5 broad characteristics of weak passwords: numbers, “password”, keyboard patterns, personal information, and dictionary words. If your passwords fall into these categories, you should immediately change them and create something a bit more complex using a mix of uppercase and lowercase characters, numbers, and special symbols.
• Follow the golden cybersecurity rule: use strong and unique passwords. To create such passwords and enhance your chances of staying safe, we highly recommend you to put the following tips to practice:
  • Avoid using personal information
  • Don’t use dictionary words or keyboard patterns
  • Make your password long and use different types of characters
  • Use every password once for a single account
  • Enable two-factor authentication if possible
  • Update your passwords every 6 months
  • Get started with a reliable password manager like Passwarden