Yes, people are still using '123456' and 'password' as their password

By Alisha Ebrahimji, CNN

    (CNN) -- When it comes to updating passwords, we are creatures of habit -- and change is hard.

But it's 2020 and it may be time to beef up your security game because, according to new research, people are still using easy-to-hack passwords like "123456789," the word "password," and "iloveyou."

Of the 200 worst passwords, "123456" is the most commonly used of 2020, with 2,543,285 people choosing it. It takes less than a second to crack, research from NordPass, a password management company shows.

Despite several reminders from cybersecurity experts, NordPass says that after comparing the list of the most common passwords of 2020 to that of 2019, there is little to no difference -- aka we haven't learned much.

The list of passwords was created by a third-party company specializing in data breach research, NordPass said. In total, they looked at a database with 275,699,516 passwords.

New to the top 10 this year is "picture1" and "senha" which means "password" in Portuguese.

The top 10 most common passwords were:

1. 123456

2. 123456789

3. picture1

4. password

5. 12345678

6. 111111

7. 123123

8. 12345

9. 1234567890

10. senha

If your password is on the list, it's probably time to make a change.

Try to avoid using dictionary words, predictable number combinations, or strings of adjacent keyboard combinations, NordPass said. And this should go without saying -- but under no circumstances should you use a password based on any personal details like your phone number, birth date, or name.

NordPass suggests changing your passwords every 90 days with a mix of upper and lowercase letters, and creating a different password for each of your accounts.

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