Flop 10: These are the most used passwords in Germany
The analysis of hacked databases shows the most used passwords in Germany. They show how insecure logins can be.
The ten most used passwords in Switzerland, Germany and Austria:
The Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) has published the data for Germany. The data comes from the HPI Identity Leak Checker database, which analyzes stolen databases. It works the same as HaveIBeenPwned, the de facto standard of leak analysis by web security consultant Troy Hunt. Password manager vendor NordPass offers a similar list that you can sort yourself. But the data is still from 2020.
Notes and curiosities
The list raises other questions besides "Why would anyone do this?".
- Yuantuo from the Swiss list is a place in South China
- The first clearly "German" password on NordPass' list is "schalke" as in FC Schalke 04 at 85th place.
- "berlin" lists NordPass at the 89th rank.
- In Switzerland, "lausanne" in 50th place is the first unique Swiss password.
- In Austria, "salzburg" is listed in 30th place as the most used password with Austrian roots.
The secure password
A password is not witchcraft. Nevertheless: You stare at your Confluence page or your Excel sheet for a day and then the computer asks you for a creatively set password. There should be numbers in there, upper case letters and lower case letters. And a special character too.
Passwords are complicated.
Google Chrome, just like all other modern browsers, will suggest passwords to you as soon as you need to set one. Take the advice. And even if the password managers built into browsers might not be the best solution, they're better than no solution. Password managers like LastPass, NordPass, or KeePass would be a better solution. These store your passwords centrally across device boundaries.
If you actually need to set a password yourself, then I advise the xkcd method. This is based on a high entropy value, which makes life difficult for automated password crackers. Also, they're designed so you can remember them, because character clutter is not human-friendly. But if a human is supposed to use a password, then human-friendliness is mandatory.
Source: xkcd.com
Of course, there is a generator for xkcd passwords.
Journalist. Author. Hacker. A storyteller searching for boundaries, secrets and taboos – putting the world to paper. Not because I can but because I can’t not.