Please change your password now before hackers use the list of 200 most common passwords to crack your life open like a coconut

Change your password. Do not say, "Oh, it'll be done later." Update your most important accounts right now . Please don't change the password to '123456'.

Why not? NordPass says that it is the most popular password both for personal and corporate accounts, making it the easiest to crack for hackers and AI. NordVPN's password management division has been collecting data on the most popular passwords for the past six years in an effort to encourage people to take digital security more seriously. Unfortunately, the usual suspects are still in charge.

The NordPass lists were compiled using data from "various publicly-available sources, including those found on the dark web." This includes credentials that have been exposed through data breaches (such as the recent attack against the Internet Archive), or by malware. NordPass assures that "no personal information was purchased or acquired to conduct this study." Some of the data contained full email addresses.

NordPass was able to determine from the data that it relates to accounts registered in 44 different countries. It is important to be skeptical of any data or facts that come from a company trying to sell something. If you are using 'password" as your real password, you should have a talk with yourself. It placed fourth and five this year.

NordPass' annual list of the most popular passwords has been covered before. '123456" was the top password in 2020, 2022 and again in 2024. If you use this password for a corporate or personal account, NordPass estimates that it will only take a hacker less than one second to gain access.

You'd be better off changing it to '0451' and keeping a scrawled note nearby as a handy reminder, partly because no passwords that use this fabled combo appear among the top 20.

There are three different variations of the word 'qwerty.' Also, there are several variations of the numberbar glissando theme (that is, moving your finger in sequence along the keys like a swish piano player). The first surprise is 'dragon,' which appears at number 20. Next comes'monkey,' at number 21. Even though it's a little more difficult, a hacker could still crack them both in no time.

What can you do to improve password management for all the accounts that you are expected to have today? NordPass has a simple answer, but we have also addressed the topic ourselves in this handy guide.

If you are still looking for inspiration for a password, the UK National Cyber Security Centre suggests that three random words combined together make for a pretty good password. Just make sure they are three actually randomly selected words because anyone over a certain age can guess 'Purple Monkey' Dishwasher from a mile away.

Nevertheless, because I am vain, I also looked at how my name ranked in NordPass' lists. It turns out that 'jessica,' ranks 114th among personal passwords, and 112th among corporate codes. NordPass estimates that it would also take a hacker a little longer to crack the code - a full seven seconds! Finally, something we can be proud of.