2023-12-18 03:18:55
Password manager Nordpass for the fifth consecutive year published its annual report showing which were the most used passwords in the world in 2023, after analyzing a 4.3 TB database extracted from various publicly accessible sources, including of the dark web (dark Internet). This information was analyzed by a group of independent researchers specialized in cybersecurity incidents from 35 countries.
One of the main novelties is that this year the first place on the list was once again headed by the combination “123456”, after having been in the second box in 2022, below “password” (“password” in English) which This time it appears in seventh place.
According to the research, the key “123456” was used 4,524,867 times and cybercriminals can take less than 1 second to decrypt it to access credentials related to emails, social networks, finances, streaming, among other online services.
Regarding the panorama in Latin America, experts say that these results reflect a scenario where the lack of awareness about more robust security practices is combined with the rise of cyber threats in the region.
When analyzing the results in the region, some countries present variations in their elections. There are users who prefer numerical passwords like Chile and Colombia, for example, where the first place went to “123456”. However, in Brazil and Mexico the list is led by “admin”. The use of proper names also stands out, the most repeated being “benjamin”, “antonio” and “santiago”.
The researchers classified the data into several verticals, allowing them to perform a country-based statistical analysis. In the case of Colombia, the second most used password was “admin”, followed by “12345678”, “12345” and “123456789”. Another novelty in the variations is that words like “chuchilla”, “Colombia2020” and “caicedo123” appear.
The list of most popular passwords was also classified by type of platform. That is, in the Social Networks group “UNKNOWN” was used more than 26,000 times, followed by “123456” (21,862 times) and “123456789” (19,969 times); in Email “123456” appears 64,635 times; “12345678”, 36,698 times and “123456789”, 22,764 times.
In the Streaming category, first place went to “123456” with a count of 27,669 times. Given this last result, Nordpass concluded that streaming lovers seem to strongly hate passwords. Compared to other popular websites, people choose weaker credentials to protect their accounts on this category of platforms.
Camilo Gutiérrez Amaya, head of the Eset Latin America Research Laboratory, said it is essential that online platforms encourage and require strong passwords. Additionally, raise awareness about the importance of generating unique access codes for each account.
“They must promote the use of tools such as password manager(s), implement effective cyber education campaigns and adopt advanced security measures that can mitigate risks and protect both corporate information and that of end users,” said the expert.
According to Verizon, 86% of web application attacks use stolen credentials. Added to this is that 18% of the most common items for sale on the dark web are online accounts, emails and passwords, according to the firm NordVPN.
Among the principles for having strong passwords are creating complex passwords (minimum 20 characters and including a mix of upper and lower case letters, numbers and special characters), not reusing passwords and using a password manager to help generate, recover and store passwords. complex keys.
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