Due to this pandemic, people had no other choice rather than to see a huge shift towards digital workspaces and online classes, thus depending fully on online mode and online platforms. Now as all have become so dependent on the internet and social media platforms too, cyber security is something that seems more important to be taken care of. And when it comes to cyber security, even though we use it in our everyday life, it looks like the country still has some way to go. Cyber security is something that is to be taken into consideration but is usually taken lightly by people. New research from NordPass, a Global Password Manager, finally revealed the most commonly used password in India. And guess what? It is not 12345 as many would have expected, it is a “password”. This was the result taken by NordPass despite so many warnings from police departments and public agencies about choosing strong passwords that cannot be cracked easily.
Global password manager NordPass has also analyzed passwords across 50 countries and the amount of time it takes to crack each one, according to 7 News.
“Passwords such as 12345 and variations of qwerty were ranked high up in the lists. Worldwide, these combinations are also quite popular, as well as localized versions of qwerty (for example, aazerty’ in French-speaking countries),” the research showed.
According to the reports of NordPass, it is found that in India, “password” was the most commonly used password, which is then followed by 12345, 123456, 123456789, 12345678, india123, 1234567890, 1234567, qwerty, and abc123. In addition to that, other letter combinations, formed by hitting the keyboard in vertical or horizontal order are very popular, the researchers noted.
In addition to these, all of these passwords, with the exception of “india123”, can be cracked in less than one second, according to the reports of NordPass. India123 is such a password that would take 17 minutes to crack. Although these time frames are only indicative, they still help to give an idea of how secure the password is.
Overall, in India, 62 passwords out of the 200 can be cracked in less than a second. That’s 31 percent whereas globally, the percentage is 84.5 percent.
“It’s important to understand that passwords are the gateway to our digital lives, and with us spending more and more time online, it’s becoming enormously important to take better care of our cybersecurity,” said Jonas Karklys, CEO of NordPass in a statement.
Karklys further said, “Unfortunately, passwords keep getting weaker, and people still don’t maintain proper password hygiene.”
It was also known that the number sequences topped the list of commonly-used passwords all around the World, by occupying the top three spots. As per the analysis, 123456, 123456789, and 12345 are the most common passwords in the 50 countries, which is then followed by qwerty and password.
Password strength is a measure of the effectiveness of a password against hacking and guesswork, which helps us to keep our personal details safe from hackers. Mumbai Police is one of the many police departments that have always spread awareness and repeatedly warned against weak passwords for online safety.
“Nowadays, an average person has around 100 accounts, therefore, it would be impossible to remember all the passwords if they are indeed unique and complex. Password managers are a great solution for that,” the researchers noted.
NordPass’s list of passwords was compiled in partnership with independent researchers specializing in research of cybersecurity incidents. They evaluated a 4TB database for the analysis.
Now if you found your password on this list, don’t forget to change it to a unique and strong password. In fact, use a password generator online or in your password manager app to create a truly complex one.
