Worst Passwords of 2020 List

There has probably been a time in your life when you created a new account for a website or service and chose a password that was less than ideal.

You are not alone—clearly.

NordPass, a password manager company, recently released its list of the worst passwords of 2020. The list goes into detail and shows how many times a password was used, exposed in a data breach, and how long it would take to guess the password in a brute force attack, where automated attempts to login are underway.

The list also compares the worst passwords from 2019 to 2020 and shows what has increased or decreased in popularity. 

It is worth taking a look to make sure your password has not made the list.

The 20 worst passwords of 2020

Below you can read the list of the 20 worst passwords of 2020, which include newcomers picture1, senha, and Million2. There were a few that made significant jumps from the previous year: 123123, 000000, and password1. There were also those that fell big, such as 1234 and iloveyou.

1. 123456
2. 123456789
3. picture1
4. password
5. 12345678
6. 111111
7. 123123
8. 12345
9. 1234567890
10. senha (Portuguese for password)
11. 1234567
12. qwerty
13. abc123
14. Million2
15. 000000
16. 1234
17. iloveyou
18. aaron431
19. password1
20. qqww1122

Worst entertainment passwords

The report also details different categories of easy to guess passwords.

Some people clearly like to use passwords that remind them of their favorite entertainment activities. Here are some of the worst passwords from the entertainment category:

• pokemon
• superman
• naruto
• blink182
• batman
• starwars

Worst sports related passwords

Just like entertainment passwords, people love passwords that remind them of their favorite sports. Not surprisingly, the list closely follows the world's most popular sports. Here are some of the worst sports passwords, in order of popularity:

• soccer
• football
• baseball
• basketball
• football1

Worst food passwords

People also tend to enjoy food, so why not make your favorite food your password? Here are the worst food related passwords, according to the research:

• chocolate
• cookie
• pepper
• cheese
• peanut

Most popular swear word passwords

In the remote work environment we are living in, the first thing many of us do each day is login to a laptop or corporate account. And a surprising number of people are using these two cusswords that made the worst password list:

•  f**kyou
• f**kyou1

Wow, tell us how you really feel about starting work in the morning.

How do you create a strong password?

If you're wondering how to create a strong password that is also easy to remember, we have some password tips for you.

The ideas for tough to guess—and easy to remember—passwords are either rattling around in your brain or somewhere around you right now.

That's because the most recent cybersecurity guidance on making a strong password says using a long phrase you might say or be familiar with is a more secure password then a bunch of random or mixed up characters like p@$$w0Rd!.

You can see examples in our previous article on the topic.

Also, remember these password guidelines from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST):

We particularly appreciate reminder number one on this graphic: Whenever and wherever you can, enable multi-factor authentication (MFA). This gives you extra protection no matter how strong, or weak, your password is.