With so many apps and website requiring users to update their passwords regularly, many create simple credentials that are easy to remember.
But this habit makes it easy for cybercriminals to attack major businesses and steal individuals’ sensitive information.
Privacy expert Jason Wise has revealed the top 15 most common passwords for 2024 and urged people to change theirs immediately if it made the list.
The passwords, like Qwerty123, 1q2w3e, and Q2w3e4r5t, were collected from real-world data branches.
With so many apps and website requiring users to update their passwords regularly, many create simple credentials that are easy to remember
‘To stay safe online, you need secure passwords. The more unique a password, the harder it will be for others to break it,’ Wise said.
‘In short, you need to avoid the most common passwords and the most obvious ones.’
He explained that some of the most common passwords are centered around number combinations like 111111, 12345, and 123456.
Wise advised people against using their date of birth, the names of people close to them, sports teams, cities, or food, and identified them as extremely common passwords that are easy to guess and can put you at significant risk from hackers.
‘Considering how many different passwords you need to use daily, it’s understandable to use simple passwords or the same one for everything,’ Wise said.
However, he added: ‘If you are using one of the most common passwords in 2024 or any variant mentioned in this guide, it’s time to change it.’
A popular tactic cybercriminals use is called a ‘brute force attack,’ which includes a software that tries every combination of letters, symbols and common words to crack credentials, with weak passwords taking only a few seconds or minutes to break.
‘Password theft means once hackers have access to your account, they can steal your personal information, lock you out of your account, or use your account to launch further attacks,’ according to security and technology company, ThreatAdvice.
‘Another danger of weak passwords is that they can be easily guessed based on publicly available information,’ it added.
Statista reported that nearly half of the people who responded to a 2022 global study on password security believe that security passwords are too weak.
‘The funniest part is that most people realize they need strong and unique passwords,’ Wise said, adding that despite this, they often still choose passwords that are easy to remember.
The solution is to use a password generator that can come up with longer, harder-to-guess passwords that are created using a random series of numbers, letters, and special characters.
While using a password generator is the safest approach, the downside is that it makes it difficult to remember when you need it, but using this combined with a password manager is considered to be the best option, according to Wise.
Some of the most popular password generators include LastPass, KeePass, NordPass, RoboForm, and Dashlane.
