While there are all sorts of tools to help protect our user accounts online passwords remain important. But this year’s list of most used passwords makes for embarrassing reading for Australians. It turns out that Australia’s most common password is “admin”. It’s followed closely by, you guessed it, “password”.
Research from NordVPN reveals some interesting information.
- Password quality is equally poor across all generational groups. Far from discerning differences, researchers found a striking uniformity in vulnerability. For every age bracket, “12345” and “123456” consistently emerge as the top choices.
- However, older generations are more likely to use names in their passwords. Generations Z and Y use almost no names in their passwords, relying rather on combinations like “1234567890” and “skibidi.”
- Numbers top both the global and generational lists. Simple numeric sequences spanning from “12345” to “1234567890,” along with common weak passwords like “qwerty123,” also dominate the top 20 lists in various countries, including Australia.
- Compared to last year, researchers observed a significant increase in the use of special characters in passwords. This year, 32 passwords on the main list include special characters, a notable rise from just six last year. Unfortunately, most of them are no more complicated than “P@ssw0rd,” “Admin@123,” or “Abcd@1234.”
- More than half of the exposed world’s most common passwords we discovered are still made of the easiest keyboard combinations of numbers and letters, such as “qwerty,” “1q2w3e4r5t,” and “123456789.”
Australia’s most common passwords
- admin
- password
- 123456
- jollyjol
- 112233Ab@
- hotmail2003
- qwerty123
- Qwerty123
- 12345678
- Burberry20
- Password1
- Password
- 12345
- Telstra
- 123456789
- Belong
- asshole1
- abc123
- welcome11
- 112233Ab
You can read the full list of most common passwords here.
Passwords remain important but it is important to use strong, unique passwords for each user account you have. Apple’s Passwords app, that works across all apple devices, makes it easy to create, track and use unique passwords.
Use a passkey wherever possible. A passkey is like a secret handshake between your device and the online service you’re accessing. The encryption prevents even a man-in-the-middle attack from deciphering it, and it changes each time you connect.
Multi-factor or two-factor authentication (MFA and 2FA) is also important. This is where you enter a second, unique code that sends’ to you by email or SMS, or generated in an authenticator app that is entered in addition to a password.
With literally billions of user accounts already in the hands of criminals, securing your accounts with strong unique passwords, passkeys or MFA/2FA is the best way to minimise the risk of a stolen account resulting in significant data loss or theft. Commonly used passwords make life easy for criminals.
Anthony is the founder of Australian Apple News. He is a long-time Apple user and former editor of Australian Macworld. He has contributed to many technology magazines and newspapers as well as appearing regularly on radio and occasionally on TV.