The Worst Passwords of 2019

by lrregina on December 23, 2019

A small note with a bad password written on it, placed on top of a laptop computer.

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The year is 2019. We have a relatively better understanding of corporate security hygiene and know what could exactly go wrong if we keep using insecure passwords.

Yet the password management struggle is real and it is hitting businesses hard.

Given the fact that stolen or reused passwords are responsible for 80% of hacking-related breaches, it’s high time for businesses to fix their overall security posture and step up their cybersecurity game.

While more and more businesses are taking this concern seriously and are implementing security measures like password management, multi-factor authentication (MFA), and single sign-on (SSO), it is unfortunate to witness that people still aren’t letting go of poor password habits.

NordPass came up with a database of 500 million leaked passwords and ranked them based on their usage in its list of worst passwords in 2019. Keep reading for some of the worst of the bunch.

The Top 51 Worst Passwords of 2019

In this list, you’ll recognize some old standbys like “123456” and “password” in the top spots. But there are some unexpected ones here, too.

For example, passwords like zinch and g_czechout may seem harder to crack, yet they still made it to the 7th and 8th positions, respectively.

You’ll also see popular female names like Jasmine, Jennifer. Another popular tactic is using a string of letters that forms a pattern or a line on the keyboard. Popular examples include asdfghjkl and 1qaz2wsx.

Here they all are in top ranking order.

Rank	Password	Count
1	12345	2812220
2	123456	2485216
3	123456789	1052268
4	test1	993756
5	password	830846
6	12345678	512560
7	zinch	483443
8	g_czechout	372278
9	asdf	359520
10	qwerty	348762
11	1234567890	329341
12	1234567	261610
13	Aa123456.	212903
14	iloveyou	171657
15	1234	169683
16	abc123	150977
17	111111	148079
18	123123	145365
19	dubsmash	144104
20	test	139624
21	princess	122658
22	122658	116273
23	sunshine	107202
24	BvtTest123	106991
25	11111	104395
26	ashley	94557
27	00000	92927
28	000000	92330
29	password1	92009
30	monkey	86404
31	livetest	83677
32	55555	83004
33	soccer	80159
34	charlie	78914
35	asdfghjkl	77360
36	654321	76498
37	family	76007
38	michael	71035
39	123321	69727
40	football	68495
41	baseball	67981
42	q1w2e3r4t5y6	66586
43	nicole	64992
44	jessica	63498
45	purple	62709
46	shadow	62592
47	hannah	62394
48	chocolate	62325
49	michelle	61873
50	daniel	61643
51	maggie	61445

Now that you’ve seen the worst passwords, what’s next? If your employees or you use any of these, then improving the password hygiene of your enterprise should be your New Year resolution. But what about your customers? Unfortunately, they may not follow good password hygiene.

Why is password hygiene not taken seriously?

Why do we see the same passwords on the top of the list every year? Why do users end up reusing the same bad password on multiple accounts?

The answer is twofold.

The first reason is that they’re easy to remember. Most people prefer to use easy passwords instead of stressing their brains out to remember long, complex ones. Unfortunately, they also reuse the same passwords across different accounts, leaving everything vulnerable if one of these is compromised.

The second? Customers may think their information is insignificant and no hacker would care about them. In turn, they forget that hackers can lock them out of their accounts. To get back into their accounts, the legitimate users may end up paying thousands of dollars in ransom to regain control.

So the question remains: How can businesses better protect their users’ information?

How can you improve password security?

As our worst passwords list shows, you can’t stop everyone from using bad passwords. However, you can prevent hackers from accessing passwords by using a Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) solution. Here’s how.

An Identity Platform can help companies implement complex hashing algorithms that protect passwords during transit or at rest. This is an effective way to prevent data from being exposed to hackers.

With the increase in frequency and complexity of attacks, companies could also utilize additional features like two-factor authentication, risk-based authentication, and passwordless login.

By implementing these features, companies can add additional security to customer accounts. This will help prevent data breaches and compromised accounts.

A CIAM solution also saves resources. Your support and development teams can devote their time to growing your business rather than responding to data breaches.

Overall, bad passwords coupled with smart hackers are a big problem for businesses. To protect your company from costly hacks and breaches, you need cybersecurity that prevents access to your sensitive data. For state-of-the-art cybersecurity and enhanced customer experience, choose a globally-certified CIAM solution like LoginRadius.