What the 2022 NordPass Study Reveals About the World's Weakest Passwords
NordPass analyzed a 3 TB dataset from 30 countries to identify the most common 2022 passwords, showing that weak, easily guessable passwords still dominate, cultural trends affect password choices, and providing practical advice for improving online security.
NordPass released its 2022 most‑common password list and the time required to crack them, based on analysis of a 3 TB database collected from 30 countries and segmented by verticals, allowing statistical breakdowns by country and gender. The study focuses on how culture influences password selection.
Despite growing cybersecurity awareness, users continue to rely on weak passwords. The top password in 2022 remains "password" with nearly 5 million users, followed by "123456", "123456789", "guest", "qwerty", "12345678", "111111", "12345", "col123456" and "123123".
For low‑importance accounts, most people choose easy‑to‑remember numbers or phrases. Among the 20 most common passwords, 18 can be cracked in under one second; only a few, such as "guest" and "col123456", may take ten seconds or longer.
The report also highlights trend‑driven passwords: during Oscar season, "Oscars" spikes; popular movies and TV shows cause similar surges. For example, "batman" appeared 2,562,776 times, "euphoria" 53,993 times, and "encanto" 10,808 times. Each year, patterns repeat, with sports teams, movie characters and food dominating password lists.
NordPass offers the following password‑management recommendations:
Create complex passwords of at least 12 characters using a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols; password generators are the easiest way to do this.
Avoid reusing passwords across multiple accounts, as a single compromised account can jeopardize all others.
Regularly review which accounts you still use and deactivate those you no longer access to reduce exposure.
Check password strength and update regularly; assess your password health, identify weak or reused passwords, and replace them with new complex ones.
Use a password manager to securely store and retrieve passwords, the simplest and most effective method to improve overall online security.
For the full report, visit: https://nordpass.com/most-common-passwords-list/
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Programmer DD
A tinkering programmer and author of "Spring Cloud Microservices in Action"
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