Top password list 2021 proves you need a password manager

Believe it or not, we’ve gotten worse at creating unique, secure passwords. Nordpass’s annual list of the most popular passwords looks worse than ever in 2021, despite heightened public awareness of privacy and security. And it’s probably because people still don’t use password managers.

We log into myriad services every day, making it impossible to create and remember a unique password for each account. It only makes sense that our “password hygiene”, as Nordpass calls it, is getting worse and worse – people need a password that is easy to remember, so they use crap like “qwerty” or “111111”.

Let me show you ten of the most popular passwords in 2021:

1. 123456
2. 123456789
3. 12345
4. QWERTZ
5. password
6. 12345678
7. 111111
8. 123123
9. 1234567890
10. 1234567

These passwords are so bad. They’re terrible, and according to the North Pass, it only takes a few seconds for a bot (or person) to crack them. The thing is, finding a password that is a little harder to crack won’t be of much use to the average person. Passwords are constantly being compromised by hacks and data breaches, so you must have a unique password for every Account.

And this is where password managers come in. A dedicated password manager, free or paid, automatically generates a new password for every site and service you join. It also speeds up the process of signing up for most of your accounts as your username and password are automatically filled in. (Password managers are synced between computer, phone and tablet so you never get locked out of an account!)

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But that’s not all. A good password manager can also fill in your credit card information or address when trying to buy something. It can notify you when an account has been compromised and it can even store important documents in a cloud-based vault.

So download a password manager today. Or at least try the password manager built into your browser. By the way, if you want to see the full list of the most popular passwords in 2021 (including highlights like “Computer” and “Internet”), visit the Nordpass website.

Source: North Pass via Gizmodo