Please change your password before hackers use this list of the 200 most commonly used passwords to crack open your life like a coconut

pcgamer.com:

Change your password. Don't give me that, «Oh, I'll do it later,» malarkey. Update your most important accounts now—and please, for the love of all of your files in the cloud, don't change it to '123456.'

Why not? Well, it's only the most popular password for both personal and corporate accounts—making it also the easiest for hackers and even AI to crack—according to NordPass. For the last six years, the password management arm of NordVPN has collated data on the most commonly used passwords in a bid to get people to take their own digital security more seriously. Unfortunately, the usual suspects reign supreme.

The NordPass lists are based on data taken from «various publicly available sources, including those on the dark web,» including credentials both exposed by data breaches (like the recent attack on the Internet Archive) or otherwise scooped up by malware. Some of the data included full email addresses, though NordPass assures, «no personal data was acquired or purchased to conduct this study.» 

That said, there was enough detail in their data set for NordPass to determine that it pertains to accounts registered across 44 different countries. Naturally, one should be sceptical of any facts or figures coming from a company also trying to sell you something. That said, if you're genuinely using 'password' as your actual password for anything, you need to have a word with yourself as it placed fourth and fifth this year.

We've covered NordPass' yearly list of the 200 most used passwords before, with '123456' taking the top spot in both 2020, 2022, and now once again in 2024. If this is a password you're currently using for either a personal or corporate account, you should know that NordPass estimates it will take any would-be hacker less than a second to pry their way into your accounts. 

Honestly, you'd be better off changing your password to '0451,' and keeping a scrawled post-it nearby as a reminder—partly because no passwords using this fabled combination