The Password Paradox: Millions Still Use '123456'—Comparitech Reveals Our Greatest Flaw

In an era of artificial intelligence, sophisticated zero-day exploits, and nation-state hacking, the most common threat to your digital life remains tragically simple: human laziness.

​Cybersecurity research firm Comparitech recently delivered a sobering verdict, analyzing over two billion real passwords leaked across dark web forums and data breach repositories. The findings confirm a disturbing pattern: despite years of public education and countless high-profile breaches, millions of accounts are still protected by credentials so weak, a basic automated script can crack them in less than a second.

​The analysis is not just a list of the internet’s worst habits; it’s a critical indicator of our collective vulnerability. For the alwayswon.com reader, this report is a wake-up call, demonstrating precisely why robust password hygiene remains the foundation of digital success.

​The Reign of the Terrible Ten

​The Comparitech report meticulously cataloged the most frequently used passwords, revealing that the internet's favorite choices haven't evolved much in a decade. The list is dominated by sequences and common words that are the first targets for any brute-force attack.

​The most used password in the entire database, appearing in over 7.6 million accounts, was the all-too-familiar: "123456."

​The full Top 10 list reads like a cybersecurity hall of shame:

1. ​123456
2. ​12345678
3. ​123456789
4. ​admin
5. ​1234
6. ​Aa123456
7. ​12345
8. ​password
9. ​123
10. ​1234567890

​The presence of sequential numerical strings (123, 1234, etc.) and basic default words (admin, password) shows that, for millions of users, convenience still trumps security. The inclusion of subtle variations, like Aa123456, which simply adds a capital letter, is barely better and easily predicted by hackers employing rule-based attacks.

​The Alarming Patterns of Weakness

​Beyond the Top 10, the sheer prevalence of predictable patterns exposed by the report is perhaps the most concerning takeaway:

• ​Numerical Dominance: Nearly one-quarter of the top 1,000 passwords consisted solely of numbers. An alarming 38.6% of the top 1,000 passwords contained the sequence “123,” and 2% contained the reverse, “321.”
• ​Keyboard Runs: Similar patterns exist with letters, with over 3% of top passwords including the alphabetical sequence “abc,” or keyboard runs like “qwerty.”
• ​Short Passwords are Instant Targets: The report highlighted that short passwords are the biggest risk factor. A massive 65.8% of all analyzed passwords had fewer than 12 characters, and nearly 7% had fewer than 8. A password consisting only of numbers or sequential letters and less than 8 characters can be cracked instantaneously by modern hacking hardware.

​The message is unambiguous: any password following a simple pattern—be it sequential numbers, dictionary words, common names, or repeating characters—is effectively an open door for automated attackers.

​The Real Cost: Credential Stuffing

​Using a weak password like “123456” for one account is bad enough, but the true danger is amplified by the widespread habit of password reuse.

​In a digital environment where the average person has dozens of accounts, a single stolen password can be catastrophic. When hackers obtain these weak credentials, they don’t just stop at the site where the data was leaked; they immediately deploy automated credential stuffing attacks. These bots try the same email/password combination across hundreds of high-value platforms, including banking, cloud storage, social media, and, most critically, your primary email account.

​If you are using 123456 for your streaming service and the same password for your work email, you have given the attacker the master key to your digital life. The Comparitech report confirms that this laziness is directly fueling account takeovers on a mass scale.

​Winning the Password War: Three Non-Negotiable Rules

​The good news is that preventing a breach due to a weak password doesn’t require complex knowledge; it simply requires discipline. To protect yourself from becoming another statistic in next year’s report, follow these three non-negotiable rules:

​1. Length is Your Superpower: Aim for 16+ Characters

Forget complexity rules like adding an @ or 1. The most effective defense is length. While 12 characters is a minimum recommendation, experts now advise 16 or more characters for maximum resilience. Longer passwords dramatically increase the time it takes for a brute-force attack to succeed—from seconds to literally millions of years. The easiest way to achieve this is by using a passphrase, such as a string of unrelated words or a sentence, which is both long and easy for you to remember.

​2. Make Every Password Unique with a Manager

You must never reuse a password. The only sustainable way to manage dozens of unique, complex passwords is by using a password manager (e.g., 1Password, LastPass, Bitwarden). These tools securely generate, store, and auto-fill unique passwords for every site, solving the convenience problem entirely.

​3. Enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

MFA, particularly using an authenticator app (like Google Authenticator or Authy) or a physical key, acts as a critical fail-safe. Even if your password is leaked in a future report, MFA ensures that the attacker cannot access your account without a secondary, rotating code or physical key. This single step eliminates the vast majority of account takeover risks related to weak or stolen credentials.

​The Comparitech report is a painful but necessary reminder that in the battle for digital security, the human element is still the weakest link. By abandoning the habits of the past and adopting modern, automated security tools, you can finally put 123456 where it belongs: in the history books of cyber-vulnerability.