Be Aware: Those Are The 32 Most Used Passwords

When it comes to keeping your online accounts safe, one can never be “too safe,” and this is especially true in the field of cryptocurrencies where security should always be of the highest levels. Of course, it usually all starts with selecting a strong password. And one must undoubtedly be rather original when it comes to it, while also avoiding the usage of easily-recognizable passwords. In this regard, recent research has compiled the 32 most used passwords in the digital world, which are prone to be easily hacked, so avoiding these might be a good idea.

Weak Credentials

A recent study was conducted by ImmuniWeb gathering credentials that belonged to employees in Fortune 500 companies. Out of a total number of 21 million, over 16 million were compromised in the last 12 months. More importantly, 95% of all credentials were either plain-simple passwords or even lacking any encryption.

The study reveals a notable difference among the most exposed industries. Technology and finance are at the top, with around 5 million stolen credentials. Health Care, industrials, and energy follow with less than 2 million. Aerospace & defense had half a million hacks, making it the least compromised industry in the report.

Most Used Passwords

The passwords were distributed by the specific fields that they were used, and some of them are easy to guess. For example, in the field of technology, the most commonly used passwords were – “passw0rd, 1qaz2wsx, career121, abc123, password1”.

Financials – “123456, welcome, old123ma, student, 456a33”.

Health Care – “Exigent, password, pass1, 000000, 123456”.

Industrials – “12345678, !qaz1qaz, comdy, password, passer”.

Energy – “password, 123456, snowman, old123ma, 789_234”.

As per the report, the weakest industries are – Retail, telecommunications, industrials, transportation, and financials.

Protection in the Crypto World

The cryptocurrency world can easily fall under the two most hacked industries – financials and technology. So, before investing in Bitcoin or altcoins, the safety and security part should be assessed as it’s equally important, if not more.

Some of the simplest things to do to avoid compromising your accounts include not sharing your password with anyone, not storing it on your computer, and so forth. However, it’s also essential to take additional measures to reduce the risk substantially.

A general rule of thumb, when it comes to cryptocurrencies, is not to store large amounts of it on exchanges. Instead, it’s highly advisable to use the so-called cold wallet, which represents a device that’s not connected to your computer or the internet and can’t be accessed through it.

Whenever possible, always enable two-factor authentication, which will require an additional confirmation before doing a transaction or logging in your account, for example. It’s also advisable to use different emails and different passwords for all of your accounts, which would further elevate the security of your holdings. For instance, BitMEX recently did a mistake and they revealed the emails of a lot of their users. If these users have the same email, one can easily see how it would compromise their security on a broader scale.

In general, it’s imperative to take a look at some tips on how to keep your accounts protected, especially when dealing with cryptocurrencies. And of course, never use “12345678” for your password.

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