Surprisingly, the most obvious one — "password" — remains very popular.
"2019 has seen the most data breaches in history, and those cyber incidents have affected billions of internet users. People struggle creating passwords, and this is one of the main reasons why users stick to the primitive ones," Chad Hammond, a security expert at NordPass said.
"However, passwords should help protect us instead of putting our privacy in danger. It is as important as ever that internet users step up their cybersecurity game.
"No one leaves their house unlocked. Even if there's nothing valuable inside, nobody would like strangers sniffing around. And just imagine them changing the lock.
"The same applies to your online life. Nobody wants to lose access to their personal accounts, especially paying thousands in ransom afterwards."
Top 20 most popular passwords of 2019
1) 12345
2) 123456
3) 123456789
4) test1
5) password
6) 12345678
7) zinch
8) g_czechout
9) asdf
10) qwerty
11) 1234567890
12) 1234567
13) Aa123456.
14) iloveyou
15) 1234
16) abc123
17) 111111
18) 123123
19) dubsmash
20) test
Read the full 200 here.
Tips maintain good password hygiene
1. Go over all the accounts you have and delete the ones you no longer use. If a small, obscure website ends up breached, you might never even hear about it. You can use haveibeenpawned.com to check if your email was ever in a breach.
2. Update all your passwords and use unique, complicated ones to safeguard your accounts. Employ a password generator to make sure they are impossible to guess. To see if any of your current passwords were ever exposed online, head over to our password strength checker.
3. Use 2FA if you can. Whether it's an app, biometric data, or hardware security key, your accounts will be much safer when you add that extra layer of protection.
4. Set up a password manager. It is a perfect tool for both generating and storing passwords. With a trustworthy manager like NordPass, you will only need to remember one master password and forget about the rest.
5. Make sure to check your every account for suspicious activities regularly. If you notice something unusual, change your password immediately.
