‘123456’ Remains the Most Common Password in India: Study

In a startling revelation, NordPass, a renowned password management solution company, has uncovered that ‘123456’ reigned supreme as the most extensively used password among Indians in 2023. This alarming trend extends globally, highlighting the pervasiveness of weak passwords, particularly for their streaming accounts.

The study identified a prevalence of passwords incorporating specific location references, with ‘India@123’ ranking prominently on the list in India. Additionally, the generic term ‘admin’ persisted as one of the most common passwords, often overlooked for modification.

Surprisingly, the previous year’s champion, ‘password,’ continued to be prevalent in users’ password choices, alongside variations like ‘Pass@123’ and ‘Password@123’ in India. Researchers scrutinized a 6.6 TB database of exposed passwords, emphasizing the threat posed by various stealer malware to cybersecurity.

Tomas Smalakys, CTO at NordPass, underscored the stealthy nature of malware, often concealed in sophisticated phishing emails impersonating reputable organizations. A concerning revelation was that nearly 31% of the world’s most popular passwords consisted of easily decipherable numerical sequences.

The report disclosed that a staggering 70% of this year’s global list of passwords could be cracked in less than a second, underscoring the urgency for enhanced security measures. In response, researchers advocated for Passkeys as a more secure form of authentication, acknowledging that while this innovation promises improved security by eliminating weak passwords, widespread adoption is a gradual process.