
Who still uses the same password nowadays? Three in five people must answer yes to this question. They use the same password for various online services. In addition, two out of five people use no more than four different passwords. These are shocking numbers when it comes to online security.
Adobe, Bitly, BitTorrent, Dailymotion, imgur, LinkedIn, Playstation
These companies were all in the news because personal data was stolen during a digital break-in. This included e-mail addresses and/or passwords. You would not expect it, but even the systems of these well-known platforms are not always safe. That is why it is extremely important to have your online security in order.
Fact: 60% of Dutch online users have the same password for multiple sites, 33% always use the same password.
Most used passwords
SplashData has published its annual overview of the most used passwords of the year.
As you can see the Dutch passwords differ slightly from the worldwide list but the trend is clear. We never learn!
10% of people use at least one of the ten worst passwords on these lists. 3% of people use the worst password 123456.
If you still use passwords on the right, it is important to immediately change your passwords after reading the tips below.
Worldwide
- 123456
- Password
- 123456789 – 3 ⬆️
- 12345678 – 1 ⬇️
- 12345
- 111111 – ?
- 1234567 – 1 ⬆️
- sunshine – ?
- qwerty – 5 ⬆️
- iloveyou
- princess – ?
- admin
The Netherlands
- 123456
- welkom
- welkom01
- wachtwoord
- qwerty
- amsterdam
- geheim
- 123456789
- feyenoord
- 12345
- welcome
- 666666
- abc123
- football
- 123123
- monkey
- 654321
- !@#$%^&*
- charlie
- aa123456
- donald
- password1
- qwerty123
- zxcvbnm
- 121212
- bailey
- freedom
- shadow
- passw0rd
- baseball/li>
- buster
- daniel
- hannah
- thomas
- summer
- george
- harley
- 222222
- jessica
- ginger
- letmein
- abcdef
- solo
- jordan
- 55555
- tigger
- joshua
- peppe
- sophie
- 1234
- robert
- matthew
- 12341234
- andrew
- lakers
- andrea
- 1qaz2wsx
- starwars
- ferrari
- cheese
- computer
- corvette
- mercedes
- blahblah
- maverick
- hello
- nicole
- hunter
- 1989
- amanda
- 1990
- jennifer
- banana
- chelsea
- ranger
- 1991
- trustno1
- merlin
- cookie
- ashley
- bandit
- killer
- aaaaaa
- 1q2w3e
- zaq1zaq1
- test
- hockey
- dallas
- whatever
- admin123
- pussy
- liverpool
- querty
- william
- soccer
- london
- 1992
- biteme
Online security is just as important as your security at home
Never use the same password twice
It is a logical consequence of what has been mentioned above. No system is 100% safe. Sometimes malicious people will obtain usernames and passwords. These passwords will usually be hashed. Let’s say unreadably shuffled. But because people usually use standard passwords, these passwords can be retrieved in an easy way.
Use a long password
The longer the password the safer it is. A short random password is strong but a long password of different words is stronger. What do you think is stronger? This password 3Cd6{QfL or this password thisismyincrediblystrongpassphrase. The second is a lot stronger. Okay, when you generate such a long password randomly you are the password king!
Fact: every extra character in your password increases the difficulty for hackers to crack it.
Use the combination of long and do not use twice
How do you get such a long passphrase that is different for every website? Simple! Use a password like thisismyincrediblystrongpassphrase. Place the name of the website behind the sentence. You use this for Facebook thisismyincrediblystrongpassphraseforfacebook. Then use this for Instagram thisismyincrediblystrongpassphraseforinstagram. I have used a very long passphrase in the example. If you do your best, you will create a sentence of more than 15 characters without any hassle. According to experts, this is currently more than enough characters to come up with a safe, long password.
Special characters
A password of random characters is king. We all know that. How do you use it now if you use those long pass phrases. Simply replace a view numbers instead of letters with a special symbol. You can replace the a with a @. Replace o with a 0. You can go as crazy as you like. This is a start. You would use the example like this thisismyincrediblystr0ngp@ssphr@se.
The requirements for a strong password
- Never use the same password twice!
- Always use a minimum password length of 15 or more characters
- Always use uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers and symbols
- Avoid repetition of characters
- Never use letter or number sequences, usernames, pet names, romantic relationships or information about yourself
- Never base a password on information which is associated with you
- Never use information that your family, colleagues and/or acquaintances know about
- Never use a password that consists of any combination of the weak components mentioned above
- Generate a random password for the most secure option!
Use your password manager to generate a strong random password or PasswordsGenerator.net. You can choose different settings such as length, with or without symbols, numbers and much more.
If you have any questions or want advice about password security, you can contact us. We are happy to help you improve your online security and are always open to a discussion about the subject. We answer the questions you have and will see where your online security stands.
Your online concept starts at Snoober Media
A series about security
It is important to us to inform about online security. Therefore read the previous article Security 1 | You can no longer ignore SSL” about security. Soon you will read a new article in this series. We will dive deeper into password managers and two-step verification.