ExpressVPN, one of NordVPN’s main competitors, has just released its new study of the most popular passwords, country by country. The opportunity to see how much popular culture influences the choice of our passwords according to the regions of the world. Unsurprisingly, the most popular password in France is far from offering foolproof security, on the contrary.
Unfortunately, it has become a habit. Every year, we regularly have the right rankings of the most hacked or most popular passwords in France and around the world. The opportunity to see that this annoying habit of users to use a weak password has a hard life. Thus in France, the terms “12345” and “Azerty” were among the most hacked passwords in 2021.
At the end of April 2022, ExpressVPN, one of NordVPN’s main competitors, has just published its new study on the most popular passwords, country by country this time. The opportunity for the company to see how much culture and linguistics play an important role in choosing our passworddepending on the region of the world in which one resides.
To give you an example, “Juventus” is one of the most used weak (and culturally related) passwords in Italy, referring to the famous football team. In the United States, Americans are romantic when it comes to choosing a password, since the term “Iloveyou” is in the Top 10.
The French love the “doudou” as a password
Concerning France, the word “doudou” is one of the weak passwords characteristic of our country, understand that we do not find elsewhere either for cultural or linguistic reasons. “For this chart, we have selected a password that is popular in different countries (all are in the TOP 10), many of which are unique to that country and show how cultural factors influence password creation.” explains ExpressVPN.
At the end of its study, the company gives some tips for choosing the best password. To start :
- Your password must be long, ideally between 12 and 15 characters
- It must be random, i.e. have no special meaning and consist of a string of letters, numbers and special symbols
- It must be unique, in the sense that it must be used for one account only in order to limit the risks for your other accounts in the event of a cyberattack or leak
Unsurprisingly, the best is to opt for a secure password manager to help you store all of your passwords.
