The Weekly Breach Breakdown: PassWord Up – The Worst Passwords of 2021

• Password Manager provider NordPass recently published a list of the worst passwords of 2021, a list that includes the 200 easiest passwords to break in the world.
• The worst password of 2021 (which is the easiest to break and the most used password) is 123456. Over 100 million users have 123456 as their password.
• The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) believes good password hygiene is one of the three most important tools to protect your personal information.
• To learn about recent data compromises, consumers and businesses should visit the ITRC’s data breach tracking tool, notified. 
• If you believe you are the victim of an identity crime – or want to learn more about good password hygiene so you don’t end up with one of the worst passwords of 2021 – contact the ITRC. Call toll-free at 888.400.5530 or live-chat on the company website idtheftcenter.org.

PassWord Up

Welcome to the Identity Theft Resource Center’s (ITRC) Weekly Breach Breakdown for December 10, 2021. Our podcast is possible thanks to support from Experian. Each week, we look at the most recent events and trends related to data security and privacy. Today we’re going to stroll down the list of the worst passwords of 2021.

Password Manager provider NordPass publishes a list each year of the 200 easiest to break passwords in the world. It is a roster containing so many codes that can be broken in less than one second, we’ve named this episode PassWord Up with apologies to the 1980s band Cameo because far too many people are waving their “hands in the air like they don’t care!”

The Importance of Good Password Hygiene

Regular listeners of the Weekly Breach Breakdown know that the ITRC is a firm believer that good password hygiene is one of the three most important tools we have to protect our personal information – especially in the wake of a data breach. (Credit Freezes and Multi-Factor Authentication with a mobile app are the other two actions.)

The average person has around 100 accounts of one type or another that require passwords. That’s one of the reasons why a recent report by the ITRC found only about 15 percent of people say they use strong, unique passwords on every account. That’s also why cybercriminals prefer to steal logins and passwords these days. It makes their work easier if they don’t have to break into an account or system because they have the password.

The Worst Passwords of 2021

NordPass gave cybersecurity researchers access to four terabytes of password information from 50 countries. The result is a list of 200 of the worst passwords you can imagine.

Before we go any further, let’s address the pachyderm in the room – password is not the most popular password. It’s actually number five, but it still takes a professional cybercriminal less than one second to blow right past the login. Some 21 million users in the study’s database used “password.”

Without any further ado, here is a sample of the Top Worst Passwords of 2021.

• #200…xxx…with a breach time of less than one second.
• #166…starwars…with a breach time of less than one second. (The Force is obviously not with this one.)
• #123…michelle…with a breach time of three hours
• #91…baseball…striking out with a breach time of less than one second.
• #66…Michael…with a breach time of eight seconds.
• #54…myspace1…with a breach time of three hours. Perhaps they should try MyGeoCities1 as a password next time.
• #10…1234567…with a breach time of less than one second.
• #4…qwerty…with a breach time of less than one second.
• #3…12345…with a breach time of less than one second.
• #2…123456789…with a breach time of one second.
• #1…with 103 million users…the most popular password in the world is…123456.

Contact the ITRC

If you need to brush up on good password practices, and make sure you are not using one of the worst passwords of 2021, visit www.idtheftcenter.org. There is great information on how to protect your personal information. Also, you can chat live with one of our expert advisors online or on the phone (888.400.5530) during our normal business hours (Monday-Friday 6 a.m.-5 p.m. PST) if you have questions.

This is the last Weekly Breach Breakdown podcast of 2021, but we will be back in January with Season 3. Be sure to listen to our sister podcast, the Fraudian Slip, next week when we gaze into our crystal ball to see what will happen in 2022. Thanks again to Experian for supporting this podcast and the ITRC’s mission. Thanks to each of you who listen to this podcast or read the transcripts, and to those of you who come to the ITRC for support and information.

From all of us at the ITRC, we wish you the happiest of holiday seasons with your loved ones – and a safe, prosperous and secure 2022.