It is actually kind of embarrassing. We live in an era where AI can predict protein folding and cars can almost drive themselves, yet millions of people still secure their entire digital lives with a string of numbers a toddler could guess. If you look at the data from the last few years—especially the massive 2024 and 2025 data breaches—the winner is always the same. 123456 remains the king of the mountain. It's the most common password on the planet, and honestly, it’s not even close.
Cybersecurity researchers at NordPass and teams analyzing the "RockYou2024" leak found that despite decades of nagging from IT departments, human laziness usually wins. People hate friction. We want to get into our email, our streaming accounts, or our work portals without having to remember a complex string of gibberish. So, we default to the path of least resistance.
The Hall of Shame: What the Data Actually Shows
The numbers are pretty staggering. When you look at "123456," it isn't just a popular choice; it is a global phenomenon. In most annual reports, this specific sequence is cracked in less than one second. It doesn't matter if you’re using a high-end brute-force tool or just a basic script; that sequence is the first thing any "script kiddie" or professional hacker tests.
But it’s not just the sequential numbers. The word "password" itself is still a heavy hitter. You’d think we would have learned by now. We haven't. Following closely behind are variations like "123456789," "guest," and the ever-classic "qwerty."
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The regional differences are actually pretty fascinating to dive into. In many Spanish-speaking countries, "tequiero" (I love you) frequently cracks the top ten list. In the UK, football clubs like "liverpool" or "arsenal" often make an appearance. People use what they know. They use what they feel an emotional connection to. This is precisely why social engineering works so well—hackers aren't just looking for numbers; they are looking for your dog’s name or your favorite team.
Why 123456 Refuses to Die
You might be wondering why, with all the biometric scanners and FaceID tech we have, this is still a problem. It’s basically a legacy issue. Think about how many old accounts you have lying around. That forum you joined in 2012? That random shopping site you used once for a holiday gift? Those accounts likely have weak passwords because, at the time, the stakes felt low.
Then there is the issue of "internal" systems. Many office workers use "123456" for their local printers or internal HR portals because they assume nobody outside the building can get in. They're wrong. Once a hacker gets onto a network, they move laterally. They find that one person using a weak password on a low-security device and use it as a pivot point to reach the crown jewels.
Complexity requirements have also, ironically, made things worse.
When a website forces you to use one uppercase letter, one number, and one special character, most people don't get creative. They just take their old password and add "!" at the end. Or they capitalize the first letter. "Password1!" is almost as common as "password" because it follows the exact pattern of a human trying to satisfy a machine's rules without actually wanting to put in the effort.
The Evolution of the "Most Common Password" List
If we look at the 2026 landscape, things are shifting slightly because of automated "credential stuffing." This is where hackers take a list of usernames and passwords leaked from one site and try them on thousands of others. Because people reuse "123456" across multiple platforms, one breach becomes a skeleton key for their entire digital identity.
Recent studies from the Hasso Plattner Institute have shown that even as we move toward passkeys, the "long tail" of legacy passwords remains our biggest vulnerability. It is a massive surface area.
- Sequential numbers: 12345, 123456, 111111.
- Keyboard patterns: qwerty, asdfgh, zxcvbn.
- Default settings: admin, root, guest.
- Personalized fluff: Iloveyou, sunshine, princess.
These aren't just guesses anymore. They are part of massive "wordlists" that automated tools cycle through in milliseconds. If your password is on one of these lists, you aren't just "at risk"—you are essentially leaving your front door wide open with a sign that says "Welcome."
The Psychology of a Weak Password
Why do we do this? Honestly, it’s a cognitive load issue. The average person has over 100 digital accounts. No human brain is designed to remember 100 unique, 16-character strings consisting of random symbols. It’s impossible.
So, we cheat.
We use a "base" password and tweak it. Or we use the same one everywhere. This is the fundamental disconnect between how security experts think and how regular people live their lives. To a security pro, a password is a barrier. To a regular user, a password is a nuisance—a gatekeeper standing between them and the funny cat video or work email they need to see right now.
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What People Get Wrong About Password Strength
A lot of people think that if they use a long word, they’re safe. They use something like "cheeseburger." It’s long! It’s easy to remember!
It’s also in every dictionary file used by every cracking tool on the planet.
Length matters, but "entropy" matters more. Entropy is basically a measure of how unpredictable a string is. A 12-character password that is completely random is infinitely stronger than a 20-character password that is just a common sentence or a series of dictionary words. However, the current consensus among experts—including NIST (the National Institute of Standards and Technology)—is moving toward "passphrases."
Instead of "P@ssw0rd123," you might use something like "the-blue-elephant-danced-at-midnight." It’s much longer, which makes it harder for computers to brute-force, but it’s actually easier for a human to visualize and remember.
The Rise of Passkeys and the End of the "Common Password"
We are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Companies like Google, Apple, and Microsoft are pushing "Passkeys."
Basically, a passkey replaces your password with a digital signature stored on your device. You unlock it with your thumbprint or face scan. There is no "123456" to steal because there is no password stored on the server at all. If a hacker breaches a website, they find nothing useful.
Until passkeys are universal, though, we are stuck in this weird transition period. We have one foot in the future and one foot in 1995, still typing "password123" into login boxes.
How to Check if You Are Part of the Statistic
If you suspect your password might be one of the most common ones, or if you've been using the same one for years, you can check. Sites like "Have I Been Pwned" allow you to see if your email address or even a specific password has appeared in a known data breach. It’s a sobering experience to see your "secret" code appearing 500,000 times in leaked databases.
You have to realize that hackers aren't targeting you specifically. They don't care about your specific bank account initially. They are casting a massive net. They run scripts against millions of accounts at once. If your password is "123456," you are the low-hanging fruit. You are the easy win that makes their "business model" profitable.
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Tactical Steps to Fix Your Security Right Now
Look, you don't need to be a tech genius to stop being a statistic. It’s mostly about changing a few habits.
First, stop trying to remember your passwords. You can't. Use a dedicated password manager like Bitwarden, 1Password, or even the built-in ones in your browser (though dedicated ones are usually better). Let the software generate a 20-character string of nonsense for every site you use. You only have to remember one "Master Password" to unlock the vault.
Second, turn on Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) for everything. Even if your password is the most common password in the world, 2FA provides a second layer. If a hacker tries to log in with "123456," they still need the code that gets sent to your phone or generated by an app like Authy. It's the difference between having a lock on your door and having a lock plus an armed guard standing behind it.
Third, start adopting Passkeys wherever they are offered. Most major platforms—Amazon, Google, PayPal—support them now. It takes thirty seconds to set up and effectively removes the risk of that account ever being phished.
Finally, do an audit of your "big three." Your email, your primary bank, and your main social media account should never, ever share a password with anything else. If your email is compromised, a hacker can just hit "forgot password" on every other site you use. Your email is the keys to the kingdom. Treat it as such.
The fact that "123456" is still number one isn't a failure of technology. It’s a failure of human habit. We are creatures of convenience, but in the digital world of 2026, that convenience is a massive liability. It only takes one breach to realize that the five seconds you "saved" by picking an easy password wasn't worth the weeks of stress spent trying to reclaim your identity.
Switch to a passphrase. Use a manager. Enable 2FA. Stop being part of the most common password list once and for all.