The value of a company does not necessarily correlate with the strength of its cybersecurity provisions. Even at the world’s richest companies, many employees have poor password habits. New research by NordPass shows that many of the biggest companies worldwide still use weak passwords, such as “123456” and “password”.
“On one hand, it is a paradox that the wealthiest companies on the planet with financial resources to invest in cybersecurity fall into the poor password trap. On the other, it is only natural because internet users have deep-rooted unhealthy password habits. This research once again proves that we should all speed up in transitioning to alternative online authentication solutions,” Jonas Karklys, CEO of NordPass explains in a statement sent to Digital Journal.
Based on an assessment of the world’s biggest companies from 31 countries, the researchers compiled 20 industry-specific passwords lists.
“Dummies,” “sexy4sho,” and other questionable passwords
According to the study, the passwords “password” and “123456,” which shared the first two spots in last year’s list of the world’s most common passwords. These notoriously hackable sets of digits are also popular among the largest companies’ employees. Across all 20 analyzed industries, both of these passwords were found among the seven most commonly used passwords.
Some industries show common variations. The password “dummies” ranks 6th among consumer goods sector employees, “sexy4sho” 16th among real estate employees, and “snowman” 11th in the energy field. Whereasthose working for corporations in the finance field seem to focus on holidays, with the passwords “ready2go,” “vacation,” and “summer” as the top picks for passwords.
Common inspiration for passwords
Dictionary words, names of people and countries, and simple combinations of numbers, letters, and symbols make up most passwords unearthed by the research.
Another trend with the world’s wealthiest companies’ employees is that many veer towards setting passwords that directly reference or hint at the name of a specific company. The full company name, the company’s email domain, part of the company’s name, an abbreviation of the company name, and the company product or subsidiary name are the common sources of inspiration.
Passwords will inevitably die
The study complements a series of password-related research projects NordPass has delivered throughout the years. In 2021, the company looked into passwords Fortune 500 companies use, and in 2022, investigated the password habits of top-level business executives. Moreover, NordPass annually presents the “Top 200 most common passwords” research, which broadly covers the password trends of internet users.
“While password trends slightly vary each year across different audiences, the general take is that people continuously fail with their password management, and the world desperately needs to switch to new online authentication solutions such as passkeys,” explains Karklys.
More cyber-aware businesses such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, PayPal, KAYAK, and eBay have already adopted passkey technology and are offering passwordless log in to their users.
