Users around the world, including those in Slovakia, continue to prove that account security still isn’t one of their priorities. The latest ranking of the most commonly used passwords from NordPass and NordStellar shows that Slovaks are still opting for simple passwords.
The research mapped passwords in 44 countries and also examined how different generations behave when choosing them. The results showed that simple numerical sequences remain popular worldwide. Slovak passwords, however, reveal another issue: Slovaks have a soft spot for names, nicknames and expressions that give hackers virtually no work at all.
A strong password should be long – ideally around 20 characters – and created from a random mix of letters, numbers and special symbols. Every account should have its own password. If one is leaked, the others will remain safe.
The most common passwords in Slovakia
Even though cybersecurity experts constantly stress that simple passwords can be easily guessed through dictionary attacks and brute-force methods, Slovaks, it seems, are not paying much attention to such warnings.
This year, the password “admin” has claimed first place among the most common passwords in Slovakia, replacing last year’s favourite, “123456”. “Slipknot777” took second place. The list of the 20 most commonly used passwords in Slovakia also includes various versions of the word “password”, “heslo” in Slovak.
1. admin
2. Slipknot777
3. corleone13
4. 123456
5. vlado1234
6. nickol
7. kakadu454
8. igorko77
9. revolucna
10. xxxxxxx1
11. 123456789
12. Digital
13. pernik
14. Heslo459
15. medial
16. nickolko
17. ricsike1
18. kromberg
19. futbalista
20. hesloheslo
On a global scale, the most commonly used password is “123456”, closely followed by “admin”, with “12345678” in third place – yet another extremely simple numerical combination. Weak patterns like “12345” or “1234567890”, along with other common weak passwords such as “qwerty123”, dominate the top-20 lists in many countries.
Compared with last year, researchers noticed a significant increase in the use of special characters in passwords. This year, as many as 32 passwords in the global ranking include special characters, a remarkable rise from just six the year before. The most frequently used special character is “@”. Unfortunately, in most cases these aren’t clever ciphers but simple forms like “P@ssw0rd”, “Admin@123”, or “Abcd@1234”.
The word “password” remains globally popular as well. It appears not only in English but also in many of the other languages examined – from the Slovak “heslo” to the Finnish “salasana”, the French “motdepasse”, and the Spanish “contraseña”.
“In general, despite years of effort from experts raising awareness about cybersecurity and digital literacy, only minimal improvements have been made in password hygiene,” said adds Karolis Arbaciauskas, Head of Product at NordPass, as cited in the press release. “The world is making hesitant steps towards passkeys – a new method of authentication without passwords, based on biometric data. Until passkeys become commonplace, strong passwords are essential, especially given that up to 80 percent of data breaches are caused by compromised, weak, or reused passwords. And criminals are ramping up their attacks while they still can.”
The myth of “digital native” people
The research confirmed that when it comes to the generation of young people known as “digital natives” – those who grew up surrounded by the online world – extremely frequent contact with technology does not automatically translate into excellent awareness of best practices for password security or of the serious risks that weak passwords open the door to.
“Password-picking habits among 18-year-olds are similar to those of 80-year-olds. Numerical combinations such as ‘12345’ and ‘123456’ rank highly across all age groups,” said Karolis Arbaciauskas, adding that the main difference is that older generations tend to use names in their passwords more often.”
The research shows that Generations Z and Y rarely use names in their passwords, preferring instead combinations like “1234567890” and “skibidi”. The use of names becomes most noticeable from Generation X onwards and is especially common among Baby Boomers.