The simple password trick the government wants you to use

UK users still rely on weak passwords. Learn the top 20 risky choices and how the three random words method can boost cyber security and protect your data.

Dec 9, 2025 - 19:43
Dec 9, 2025 - 20:38
The simple password trick the government wants you to use
The simple password trick the government wants you to use

Creating a strong, secure password is a skill that many people in the UK don't understand. The most common password in the country is still admin, followed by 123456.

Many sites now force users to add special characters, capital letters, and numbers to their passwords to increase security.

But the government's National Cyber ​​Security Centre says this actually leads users to resort to tricks that don't work to create supposedly strong passwords.

Creating a strong, secure password is a skill that many people in the UK don't understand. The most common password in the country is still admin, followed by 123456.

Many sites now force users to add special characters, capital letters, and numbers to their passwords to increase security.

But the government's National Cyber ​​Security Centre says this actually leads users to resort to tricks that don't work to create supposedly strong passwords.

Instead, the security agency advises users to create a very secure password by combining three random words that are easy to remember.

For example, a password could be "addictedcommercebenefit" – you don't need to remember capital letters, numerals, or special characters.

What passwords do people typically choose?

Despite years of awareness-raising efforts, people still choose very weak passwords, as research from NordPass this year revealed.

The best password is admin, which is the default password on many sites and devices.

Most common passwords in the UK in 2025:

admin

123456

password

12345678

123456789

Password1

Password

12345

Lennon11

1234567890

Password123

Fortnite21

password1

qwerty123

qwerty

123qwe

abc123

Strongman12

daday123

Liverpool1

Research found that Password, with variations such as Password1, remains a very popular choice in every language.

Karolis Urbasiauskas, Head of Product at NordPass, said: "In general, despite all the efforts made over the years in cybersecurity education and digital awareness, the data shows only modest improvements in password hygiene.

"The world is gradually moving towards passkeys—a new passwordless authentication method based on biometric data—but in the meantime, until passkeys become commonplace, strong passwords are crucial.

"Especially because approximately 80% of data breaches are caused by compromised, weak, and reused passwords, and criminals will continue to intensify their attacks until they reach a barrier they cannot overcome."

Why are numbers and special characters a problem?

The National Cyber ​​Security Center says that forcing users to use numbers and special characters leads to familiar options—and weak passwords.

People find it difficult to remember complex passwords and choose to avoid them by using familiar variations, which plays into the hands of cybercriminals.

For example, if someone is forced to use numbers and special characters, they might use "Pa55word!", which can be easily guessed by software used by cybercriminals.

The NCSC stated: "Imposing complexity requirements is a poor defense against guessing attacks. Our brains have difficulty remembering random character strings, so we use predictable patterns (such as replacing the letter 'o' with a zero) to meet the required complexity criteria.

"Of course, attackers are familiar with these strategies and use this information to optimize their attacks. Conversely, imposing these complexity requirements results in more predictable passwords.

What is the best way to create secure passwords?

The NCSC advises that the best way to create a strong, secure password is to combine three random and distinct words.

Doing so not only creates something that's less likely to be guessed by the algorithms used by criminals, but it's also longer, and therefore harder to crack.
The NCSC said: "By using a password made up of three random words, you're creating a password that will be 'strong enough' to keep criminals away, but also easy for you to remember.
"The old advice to make your password too difficult (saying we should create passwords filled with random characters, symbols, and numbers) isn't helpful. This is because most of us have too many passwords, and remembering too many difficult ones is nearly impossible."
The NCSC says that choosing three random words can lead people to think of passwords they might not otherwise think of.
The security agency also says that writing down passwords is okay if necessary, and calls the advice to never do so "bad."
The NCSC said: "Passwords made up of three random words are a good way to create unique passwords that are long and strong enough for most purposes, but also easy to remember. If you prefer to write down your password, that's fine too, as long as you keep it somewhere safe."

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