In the times when everything has gone digital, a user has multiple accounts and to log in to those websites, applications and other services one has to create passwords to access their accounts on a daily basis. It could be for ordering food, buying products from an e-commerce platform or even punching attendance on a portal while working from home.
These activities in the digital world are accompanied by user authentication and identification protocols, while the latest option that has come is using biometrics on smartphones. For a long time, people have been replying through alpha-numeric passwords.
The latest research from NordPass that has appeared to be surprising reveals that over 17 lakh Indians use the word "password" as their password. People still use this simple password despite repeated warnings from the police departments and agencies that direct people to choose strong passwords so that it's not easily cracked.
Also Read: Wondering how to make money by doing nothing? 5Star "Nothing Bank" to rescue
As per 7 news, the Global password manager NordPass reviewed passwords from across 50 nations along with the duration it takes to crack each password.
The top three spots on the list of most commonly used passwords were taken by number sequences. Among the 50 countries analysed, 123456, 123456789 and 12345 are the most used passwords followed by qwerty and password.
Indians were also found to be using people’s names. “Priyanka", "Sanjay", "rakesh" and others are some popular names among both men and women in India.
The effectiveness of a password against hacking and guessing is measured in terms of password strength. Along with many other police departments, Mumbai police has been warning against weak passwords for online safety through its social media handles. Check out some of their posts requesting citizens to use safe passwords:
After analysing a database of 4TB, the list has been published by NordPass in partnership with professional independent researchers who specialise in researching cybersecurity incidents.
According to the CEO of NordPass, "Overall, in India, 62 passwords out of the 200 can be cracked in less than a second. That's 31 per cent whereas globally, the percentage is 84.5 percent. Unfortunately, the passwords keep getting weaker and people still don't maintain proper password hygiene."
Also Read: A lesson Indian superiors could take: Portugal bans bosses contacting employees after-hours
How can you create a strong password?
To create a strong password users can use a unique combination of alphabets, numbers and other symbols that is tough to guess. You can also include a combination of all elements which can result in a strong password that would be difficult to crack through. Multiple online tools can help users to generate long and unique combinations of letters and numbers that would not only be tough to crack but to remember as well.