IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK/VITALII VODOLAZSKYI JANUARY 2022 PCWorld 15
Confirmed: Your passwords still suck
Come on, just use a password manager already. BY MICHAEL CRIDER
W
ith large-scale security
breaches more or less a
permanent fixture of tech
news, security practices
among standard web users seem to be
improving. But it’s not happening very
quickly, at least if NordPass’s yearly report
(fave.co/3DR9fJS) on the most common
passwords is to be believed. According to
the data gathered, hundreds of millions of
people still use passwords that can be
cracked more or less instantly, with “123456”
taking the number one spot yet again. Over a
hundred million accounts were found to be
using it for the barest minimum of nonsecurity.
Other popular passwords include
“qwerty” (22 million accounts), “111111” (
million accounts), and the ever-creative
“password” (just shy of 21 million accounts).
Less obvious inclusions like “superman,”
“baseball,” and “q1w2e3r4t5” are used by
only a million accounts each, but Nord claims