123456 – I bet I Just Guessed Someone’s Password

A GitHub user going by the name FlameOfIgnis has published a very interesting repository that holds a lot of statistical data for more than 1 billion passwords. These passwords were found in data dumps from any number of the hundreds of data breaches over the past several years and analyzed for a number of different patterns. The most striking results to me are the following:

  • 1 in 142 passwords is 123456
  • 763,000 of the passwords match a pattern that suggests a random password generator is creating passwords with high complexity but low entropy. Meaning there are duplicates occurring far more often than there should be.
  • 34.4% of passwords end with digits but only 4.5% start with a digit.

The rest of the statistics are interesting but I see the above statistics as particularly impactful. If I were a bad actor looking to write a password cracking script either using dictionary attacks or brute force attacks, I would always start with 123456, then I would move in to dictionary attacks with a digit at the end, and then I would start generating passwords with the pattern found in the 763,000. Essentially, statistical analysis like these create a cookbook for deigning attack patterns against web applications protected by a login.

What does this all mean? It means that despite years of being told to do things differently to secure our digital lives, people haven’t taken the guidance to heart. We are still stuck in our old insecure ways, allowing criminals to easily steal our credentials and hijack our digital lives. It amazes me that we have yet to collectively realize just how vulnerable our inability to adapt and change our ways has made us. The threat is obvious and has been exposed for all to see, yet we put our blinders on. Those that are very unlucky only realize the error of their ways when they find their bank accounts drained because someone took over their accounts online.

Take Action

If this scares you like it scares me, take action to secure your information now. Here are some very easy suggestions that will make large positive difference in your online security if you start following them today:

  1. Use a well regarded password manager – I would suggest 1Password, LastPass, or Dashlane if you need a place to start looking.
  2. Never reuse passwords. This is why you have a password manager.
  3. Always generate random passwords that are long and complex. Again, you have a password manager now. Go crazy with that 20 character password containing lowercase letters, uppercase letters, numbers, and special characters.
  4. Always use two-factor authentication when available.
  5. If time-based one-time passcode support is available for two-factor authentication with a specific application, use it. Normally for this type of authentication you would use an app like Authy or Google Authenticator.
  6. Check if your user names and/or email addresses have been found in any data breach data dumps. I highly suggest using Have I Been Pwned for this.
  7. If you know one of your logins is compromised, change your password immediately. If you reused this password in other locations, change all of those too and use unique passwords everywhere.

Stay safe, protect yourself, and make sure your friends and family do the same.