2023-09-19 07:30:04
The observation is clear: the top 10 most used passwords in France can be deciphered in less than a second. Changing the password for each account is necessary to strengthen their security. Here is a top 7 passwords that you absolutely must change with the help of a password manager.
Despite cybersecurity awareness campaigns, Internet users still choose weak passwords. The proof is that the most used password in France is “123456”. They put little effort into securing their account. However, it only takes a few seconds for a hacker to decipher the top 10 most used passwords. Faced with the multiplication of threats, changing the password of your accounts to make them more robust becomes a priority.
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After years of online presence, an Internet user has created hundreds of accounts. At a time when websites and accounts are being hacked one following the other, changing your password is becoming a good resolution.
But where to start ? Do you have to find the accounts one by one? This process may take time. It’s best to start with priorities.
Email addresses
Cybercriminals penetrate the security system of an Internet user or a company through email. Email is at the top of the malware distribution tools.
These hackers then obtain identification data using the phishing method. It involves luring email recipients to a fake website. Take the example of LinkedIn, the Internet user clicks on a link which apparently comes from the company. Arriving on the site, he is asked to provide sensitive information such as bank details.
According to the State of the Phish report, cybercriminals make between 300,000 and 400,000 phishing attempts per day. This figure only concerns Europe and the Middle East.
Spam alone has caused 20 billion losses to businesses. These are unwanted messages that flood the mailbox. Not only do they affect server performance, but they also spread malware.
Spam and phishing are just the tip of the iceberg. Other practices threaten email users such as brand identity theft, professional email compromise, blackmail, conversation hijacking, account takeover, etc.
For an individual, access to an e-mail address does not represent a danger in itself. On the other hand, this address is often requested for two-factor authentication. Hackers can use the email to unlock other, more sensitive accounts.
The best way to protect yourself from these attacks is to raise awareness and train business users and employees on cybersecurity. Changing and strengthening your password is included in the training.
Banking passwords
The rise of online shopping encourages the provision of bank details on many sites. However, this situation increases the risk of data theft by malicious people.
Hackers manage to deduct large amounts from individuals’ bank accounts. According to Statista, bank fraud amounted to 464 million euros in 2022. This figure is constantly increasing due to the development of new payment methods. In fact, it was 266 million in 2009.
The biggest wave of hacking dates from 2021 when information on 40,000 cards was leaked. Victims notice irregular transfers to their account. According to cybersecurity experts, the information comes from a merchant site or an online bank. During an online purchase, the consumer provides their bank details for payment. In the eyes of experts, this is a bad practice due to the vulnerability of merchant sites.
How to prevent these risks? Caution should be exercised when choosing sales sites. They must use a payment system that meets current standards. Using the e-credit card also seems to be a better alternative. The consumer enters a fictitious single-use card number assigned by their bank when paying.
Changing the password for your online account is also essential. To enhance security, the customer can also set up two-factor authentication.
Professional accounts
An employee uses several IT tools to carry out their daily tasks. Most of these tools require the use of an individual or team account.
Professional accounts can be:
workstation: local account; company social networks; professional email: Outlook, Gmail, etc. ; internal and external applications: CRM, CMS, etc. remote access to networks: VPN, SSH, RDP, etc.
Cybercriminals attack an account through social engineering, hence the importance of changing your password. This term refers to all manipulation techniques to obtain confidential data such as usernames and passwords.
The most well-known social engineering techniques are phishing, phishing, etc. Hackers contact employees by email by impersonating a reliable site. Their goal is to encourage recipients to click on a link leading to a form. Unsuspecting employees may download a malicious attachment or enter confidential information into a form.
These techniques allow you to recover login IDs and passwords. Hackers can steal private information, internal documents or even banking information. Sensitive data is sold off on the darknet.
If an account is hacked, the first instinct is to change the corrupted password. If the employee uses the same password on all of his accounts, he must perform the reset on each account.
Dating apps
According to a study conducted by the IFOP, 33% of men and 21% of women in France have already used a dating application or site. This figure has been steadily increasing in recent years. In fact, 30% of users admit to their addiction to these platforms.
These accounts contain personal data: bank details, compromising photos, etc. However, Internet users use a weak password. Even though Internet users put little effort into creating their password, dating sites are also too permissive. The minimum length accepted on some sites is too short. Others even allow the use of overly simplistic passwords.
Cybersecurity experts also note that these sites send the password in clear text in a confirmation email. They do not provide multi-factor authentication as well.
While awaiting actions from sites to strengthen security, users can change their password to something more robust.
Retail Service Passwords
When a consumer buys on the internet, they are often required to create a personal account to validate their purchase. However, this process involves providing information such as: telephone number, postal address, bank card number, last name, etc.
The account is protected by a password that the consumer enters for each transaction on the site. Is the account really secure?
First, bad password creation habits persist. Internet users expend little effort by choosing “azerty”, “password”, “123456”, etc. For their part, e-commerce sites are very permissive. 87% of them accept these passwords. Only 6% of online stores require capitalization, numbers and letters.
When hackers access an e-commerce account, they can empty their victim’s account. Hence the need to change your password to a more robust version.
School accounts
Schools and universities use online portals to allow students to manage courses and grades. On the surface, changing a school account password seems less urgent.
However, this account contains sensitive data such as payment accounts, social security number, date of birth.
Cyberattacks are now affecting universities and schools. The educational world is even affected by ransomware. For good reason, these web portals are a veritable mine of information.
Healthcare
The health sector is not immune to cybercrime. The latest major attack allowed hackers to steal the health data of more than 500,000 patients in France. The information is then sold on the dark web. However, they relate to blood type, date of birth, postal address, prescribing doctor, social security number, etc.
In Finland, thousands of patients received a ransom demand for not disclosing their medical data. These phenomena largely justify strengthening the password.
Use a password manager to change your password
Faced with the overly permissive policy of certain sites, Internet users choose weak passwords. They do not contain capital letters, some sites even allow a 6 character password.
To rely on their memory, many users use the same password for other accounts. However, this bad practice makes the work of hackers easier.
Today, you need at least 12 characters composed of numbers, letters, uppercase, lowercase and special symbols to protect an account. Pirates take centuries to decipher them. But what if you need a unique password for each account?
This is where a password manager comes in. Software like NordPass, which is one of the best, offers several features that make life easier for Internet users:
generator: those lacking inspiration can count on NordPass to generate characters randomly. manager: it performs the role of memorization in place of the Internet user. Even if the latter manages more than 100 accounts, the tool is capable of storing this information in an encrypted space.
And thanks to the autocomplete function, the tool automatically fills the identifier fields. If the user switches to their smartphone for example, the information is directly synchronized.
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