In this modern day and age, using a secure password is more crucial than ever before. For reasons unknown, the popular passwords aren’t changing in the slightest. Making life easier for hackers and other criminals is never a smart idea.
The Password Debacle Remains
A recent analysis of more than one billion leaked credentials paints an interesting picture. Turkish computer engineering student Ata Hakçıl decided to take a closer look at the information. Not because he wanted to test some of the combinations, but rather to confirm his worst fears.
As he feared, there are just 169 million unique passwords in these leaked credentials. Reusing a password for multiple accounts has always been a security risk. Despite the growing number of hacks and data breaches, people still rely on old and easy to remember combinations.
In his findings, Hakçıl confirms that “123456” is still being used often. In fact, one in every 142 people uses this password for at least one account.
Given how this is a sample of data stolen and sold in multiple batches, it paints a worrisome outlook. Gauging the real use of this far too common password is impossible, but the end result is likely worse.
Of the unique passwords, the top 100 account for 6.6% of all combinations. Creativity is seemingly not society’s forte, even in 2020.
Coming up with better passwords to secure credentials is crucial. Using a password manager should be the default by now, yet it clearly isn’t.
Analyzing the key Issues
Reviewing the findings further, things do not get better. Just 12% of the analyzed passwords contain at least one special character. It doesn’t take much imagination to enter a $ or % sign, for example.
Going through this minor effort makes it far more difficult for a hacker to crack a password with ease.
Making matters worse is how 28% of the passwords only have letters. As many as 13% of the people use a password consisting only of numbers.
Remembering different passwords can be difficult, but creating them is an absolute necessity. Using a password manager is convenient, as it only requires users to remember one password themselves.
The objective now is to make sure they don’t use “123456” or some other easy to guess combination to protect their password vault.
None of the information on this website is investment or financial advice and does not necessarily reflect the views of CryptoMode or the author. CryptoMode is not responsible for any financial losses sustained by acting on information provided on this website by its authors or clients. Always conduct your research before making financial commitments, especially with third-party reviews, presales, and other opportunities.
