Don’t Get Hacked, Michigan: The 20 Most Common Passwords

We shouldn't do it, but so many of us do. Using the same password, or a variation of it, for everything. It's easy to remember, reliable and you don't have to think about it or store it somewhere.

But, the thing with passwords is that their minor inconvenience protects you from life-altering consequences. Like a famous Office employee once said, "Identity theft isn't a joke."

It wasn't so long ago that Michigan was ranked as the worst state for identity theft. In 2023 alone, Michiganders lost a cumulative $152 million, according to Axios.

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Think of all the personal data and belongings you have hidden behind a password. You can't afford to have your passwords compromised by savvy internet criminals. The harder you make it on them to crack into your protected accounts and information, the less you'll have to worry about a looming, unseen threat.

Again, coming up with one strong password isn't the catch-all solution. Experts warn about the dangers of using the same or similar passwords for multiple accounts.

“If a password is frequently reused or easy to guess, bad actors can more easily gain access to email, banking and social media accounts, resulting in identity theft and financial loss,” Gary Orenstein of Bitwarden, a popular password manager, told Reader's Digest, which, using data from NordPass, ranked the most common passwords in the world and in America.

“Recent examples, like the Microsoft and 23andMe breaches, illustrate the consequences of weak password use, with attackers employing password-spraying and credential-stuffing attacks using easily guessed or reused credentials respectively.”

Regardless, your passwords should be strong so that you can surf the web with peace of mind that your most personal data is safely in your possession. If your password is anything like the list of the 20 most common in America, you should come up with a few passwords that don't utilize the same tactics.

Millions of people per year are victims of identity theft. For more information on how to protect yourself from or overcome fraud or identity theft, visit this Michigan .gov website for help.

Click here to see Reader's Digest's full list of the 50 most common passwords in the world.