Is your password in the ‘most common’ list? You might be surprised – National

A new report suggests that younger generations may have weaker passwords than their older counterparts.

And Canadians are among those using some of the most common passwords on their logins instead of more secure options.

NordPass, a password manager for business and consumer customers, has released its list of the 200 best passwords for 2025 with the help of independent cybersecurity researchers. The data was collected through public data breaches and dark web warehouses from September 2024 to September 2025.

The company says simple passwords are extremely easy to guess, yet many seem to ignore the warnings, including Canadians.

Topping the list of most common passwords in Canada was ‘admin’, followed by ‘123456’, then ‘gallant123’, followed by ‘password’, while ‘1hateyou’ was the fifth most common.

Globally, the report shows that the most common password is ‘123456’, followed by ‘admin’ and ‘12345678’ in third place.

NordPass says what may be most surprising is the use of common passwords among younger Canadians, who are more likely to have grown up immersed in the online world compared to older generations.

Researchers highlight that number combinations such as ‘12345’ rank first across all age groups, and are more likely to be used by Gen Z and millennials, who appear to be less likely to use names in their passwords.

Meanwhile, older generations are more likely to use names in their passwords and more often in combination with numbers, starting with Generation X and peaking among baby boomers, the report said.

For example, NordPass says that among Generation

The most commonly used special character in a password was ‘@’, and according to the report it was used in passwords that were seemingly straightforward, such as ‘P@ssw0rd’, ‘Admin@123’ or ‘Abcd@1234’.

Researchers in the report say the vast majority of data breaches are caused by compromised, weak and reused passwords.

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NordPass says that while education and awareness about how to create stronger passwords that are difficult to predict is key to online security, newer and more secure methods are slowly becoming more common.

This includes the use of passwords, biometrics and multi-factor authentication.

The Canadian Center for Cyber ​​Security says the more complex the requirements are to guess a password or access an account, the stronger a person’s cybersecurity is likely to be.

The center for example recommends that people use a passphrase consisting of four or five words typed together, a complex password containing uppercase, lowercase, and special characters, and tools such as multi-factor authentication.

However, because these aren’t as widely used, NordPass says strong passwords are still important.

The company adds that individuals should never reuse passwords and should try to have unique passwords for each account. Passwords should also be regularly reviewed for what NordPass calls a “health check” to identify weak, old, or reused passwords.

For those who feel like they can’t remember all their different passwords or who feel overwhelmed, the Canadian Center for Cyber ​​Security says a credible, carefully selected password management tool can be a good option.

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