Bach Seat

When securing you online accounts your username matters. A recent report from password manager provider Nordpass points out why you should have a strong username. They explain that an easy to guess username gives away half of the protection for your online information.

Strong passwords are vital to to securing your online information, but you shouldn’t skimp on your username. Nordpass found that most people use their actual name to secure their online usernames.

The blog states that usernames which include personal information are the worst. That is because when you use personal data to create your account, it helps cybercriminals build your profile. If you post a comment on Facebook with a username Becky1970 or ToledoTommy, that’s enough for an attacker to start a social engineering attack.

How to create a strong username

Here are some tips from Nordpass to help you create a strong username.

• Don’t reuse your username on other accounts — this makes it easy to track you.
• Don’t use your actual name.
• Avoid creating a username that’s identical to your email address.
• Don’t use personal information like your birth date, the city you’re from, or social security and ID numbers.
• Don’t use usernames that are the same as your password or may hint at it.

If these tips are too complicated – use a username generator.

Here are the 25 most popular usernames…

2020 Risky usernames

Rank	Name	Times used
1	????	875,562
2	David	470,646
3	Alex	451,546
4	Maria	438,485
5	Anna	387,660
6	Marco	352,629
7	Antonio	325,085
8	Daniel	310,096
9	Andrea	305,442
10	?????	298,963
11	Laura	296,627
12	Ali	290,285
13	???	277,859
14	Jose	271,960
15	Sandra	264,886
16	???????	249,476
17	Sara	247,072
18	Carlos	214,261
19	Ana	212,049
20	Michael	198,312
21	Marie	194,530
22	Francesco	193,526
23	Mehmet	191,023
24	Marta	186,424
25	Sarah	184,996

NordPass partnered up with a white-hat hacker, who compiled a report of the most popular usernames of all time. The hacker requested to stay anonymous.

Click here to see the Nordpass 200 most used usernames.

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For those of use that don’t know the most common username means ‘title’ in Thai.

Thankfully some key usernames are missing from this list: Admin, Administrator, guest, root, user.

 

Stay safe out there !

Related article

• 15 billion stolen usernames and passwords available online — what to do (Tom’s Guide)

 

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him at LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.