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“123456” topped NordPass’s 2025 list of common passwords in analyzed exposed-credential data. That does not mean it was the most-used password across every online account: the report ranks credentials in a particular collection of breach and dark-web data, not a census of account holders. The practical lesson is clear, though: use a unique password for each account, and add stronger sign-in protection where available.
What is the worst password of 2025?
In NordPass’s seventh annual Top 200 Most Common Passwords report, “123456” ranked first. NordPass says it has topped the report’s chart in six of the seven years the company has published it; “password” took the top spot once. The ranking is a result from the report’s analyzed corpus, not a measurement of every password in use worldwide. NordPass’s 2025 report calls “123456” the world’s most common password in its findings.
What data did the study analyze?
NordPass says it worked with NordStellar and independent cybersecurity researchers to analyze recent public data breaches and dark-web repositories from September 2024 to September 2025. The report describes its results as statistically aggregated, says it covers password trends in 44 countries, and includes analysis by generation. NordPass also says the researchers did not acquire or purchase personal data for the study. The report’s methodology and results describe that scope.
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The published methodology sections do not provide a complete sampling frame, denominator, deduplication details, or confidence intervals. So the list cannot show what share of all account holders use any password on it, or predict the chance that a particular reader will be breached. It is evidence that easy-to-guess passwords recur in exposed-credential data—not a global headcount.
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Why do weak passwords put more than one account at risk?
The risk grows when a password is both predictable and reused. If criminals obtain a password from one exposed service, they can try it on other accounts, a practice often called credential stuffing. A long, unique password for each account limits the damage from one site’s breach.
Password strength does not prevent phishing: a person can still be tricked into entering credentials on a fraudulent site. NIST also says that more than 3,000 data breaches in 2024, as reported by the Identity Theft Resource Center, could have exposed hundreds of millions of online accounts. That figure is separate from the NordPass password ranking. NIST’s password guidance explains these risks.
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Is my password on the worst-passwords list?
You can compare your password against NordPass’s published list, but that only tells you whether it appears among the entries shown; absence from the list does not prove a password is safe or secret. Never enter your actual password into an unfamiliar website or checker to find out whether it has been exposed.
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NIST says you can check whether an email address appeared in a breach using Have I Been Pwned. A breach notification tied to an email address does not necessarily establish that a particular password was exposed, but it is a reason to secure the affected account and any accounts where you reused its password. NIST’s guidance provides this recommendation.
What should I do if I reuse that password?
- Change it on the affected account. Go directly to the service’s official app or website rather than following a link in an unexpected message.
- Change it anywhere else you reused it. Give each account a different password, starting with email, financial services, and accounts that can reset access to other services.
- Turn on multifactor authentication (MFA). Use a stronger available method where practical; NIST says MFA options differ in security and notes that text-message codes are particularly vulnerable.
- Check account activity and recovery details. Review recent sign-ins and make sure recovery email addresses and phone numbers are yours. If you see activity you do not recognize, follow that service’s account-recovery and security instructions.
Changing a password does not undo a phishing disclosure, so also verify you are signing in on the genuine service and stay alert to unexpected sign-in or password-reset notices.
How should you create and manage safer passwords?
Prefer passkeys when a service supports them
A passkey can replace a password on supported services. NIST says passkeys are unique per login and do not require memorizing a password, which can reduce exposure to phishing. Support varies by service, so a password may still be necessary for some accounts.
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Use a password manager for password-only accounts
A password manager can generate and store a different password for each account, avoiding the temptation to reuse one or choose easy-to-guess variations. NIST recommends password managers and says the manager protecting stored passwords should support MFA. When choosing one, check that it works on your devices and browsers, offers MFA for the vault, explains account recovery clearly, and documents its security practices. The NordPass study did not test or rank password managers.
Make required passwords long
If you need to create a password yourself, NIST recommends at least 15 characters. Its current guidance no longer recommends mandatory mixtures of special characters and numbers; length and uniqueness matter more than satisfying arbitrary composition rules. NIST uses an estimate of 100 billion password guesses per second to illustrate modern offline guessing, not as a universal rate for every attacker, machine, hashing method, or password. Read NIST’s updated guidance for its recommendations.
Add another factor when available
MFA adds a verification step beyond the password. A USB hardware security key is one possible MFA option, but compatibility depends on both the account and the devices used to access it. Check those requirements before relying on a key; NIST identifies USB dongles as a category of MFA, not as an endorsement of a particular product.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What can organizations do about common passwords?
Organizations can block known weak or commonly exposed passwords during account creation and password changes, while still encouraging long, unique credentials and MFA. Microsoft Entra ID, for example, describes password-spraying attacks that test a small set of known weak passwords against many accounts. Microsoft says its own screening uses security telemetry and fuzzy matching for variants; it does not publish its global banned-password list, and its screening algorithm can change. This is Microsoft-specific implementation guidance, not a description of every identity provider. Microsoft’s Entra documentation explains its approach.
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