Nordpass study reveals alarming password habits in Finland and globally

Nordpass, a password management tool, has released its annual study on the most common—and least secure—passwords worldwide. Conducted for the sixth consecutive year, the research highlights that users’ password habits have not improved significantly over the years, with the organization concluding that passwords remain alarmingly weak.

The study analyzed a vast database of 2.5 terabytes, compiled from various publicly accessible sources, including the dark web. This dataset featured passwords stolen by malware or exposed through data breaches. Nordpass categorized the passwords into personal and workplace usage and organized them by country.

The title of the weakest password globally once again goes to “123456,” which has held this dubious distinction for five out of the past six years. The situation in Finland is similarly concerning; among personal passwords, “qwerty123” topped the list, while employees predominantly used “salasana,” the Finnish word for “password.” Finnish users were also noted to favor crude expressions, with terms like “paska” (a vulgar term) and “perkele” appearing frequently in the lists.

Here are the top five most common passwords globally: – Personal passwords: “123456” (over 3 million), “123456789” (over 1.6 million), “12345678” (884,740), “password” (692,151), and “qwerty123” (642,638). – Workplace passwords: “123456” (over 1.2 million), “123456789” (693,611), “12345678” (365,724), “secret” (339,202), and “password” (196,477).

In Finland, the most frequently used personal passwords included “qwerty123,” “qwerty1,” and “salasana,” while workplace passwords were dominated by “salasana” and variations of it.