News

NordPass Shines Light On Poor Password Hygiene

The word “password” is the second most commonly used password by people who are in charge of important organizations.

Published

4 years ago

June 5, 2022

nordpass shines the light on poor password hygiene

It’s often said that people are the weakest link in the cybersecurity chain, and the latest research from NordPass, a provider of the eponymous password manager, certainly confirms this.

NordPass examined over 290 million data breaches worldwide and discovered something alarming: high-ranking business executives and company owners frequently use passwords that are so laughably weak that using them is like begging to be breached.

Just take a look at the top ten most used passwords by CEOs:

Rank	Password	Count
1	123456	29,401
2	password	22,511
3	12345	11,867
4	123456789	10,988
5	qwerty	9,738
6	1234	6,520
7	qwerty123	6,446
8	1q2w3e	5,809
9	111111	5,487
10	12345678	5,099

As you can see, basic number and letter sequence combinations still dominate, and the fact that the word “password” is the second most commonly used password by people who are in charge of important organizations doesn’t really paint the current cybersecurity landscape in nice colors.

Besides these textbook examples of poor password security, high-ranking business executives and company owners are also fond of common names like “Tiffany” and “Charlie,” and they seem to like animals and mythical creatures, with “dragon” and “monkey” being the top animal- and creature-themed passwords.

Also Read: Is Your Phone Hacked? How To Find Out & Protect Yourself

“It is unbelievable how similar we all think, and this research simply confirms that,” says NordPass CEO Jonas Karklys. “Everyone from gamer teenagers to company owners are targets of cyber-crimes, and the only difference is that business entities, as a rule, pay a higher price for their unawareness,” he adds.

To better protect themselves, all employees should avoid password reuse at all costs, and a good password manager like NordPass can make this much easier. They should also turn on multi-factor authentication when possible for an added layer of security.

News

Egypt’s Mobile Wallets Are Booming, But Cash Still Has Power

Egypt’s telecom regulator says $57.6 billion moved through more than 57 million wallets in six months. And one operator handled 77% of the value.

Published

4 days ago

September 12, 2026

Nour Nasir

egypt's mobile wallets are booming but cash still has power

Egypt’s mobile wallets handled EGP 2.96 trillion ($57.6 billion) in transactions in the first half of 2026, according to the National Telecom Regulatory Authority – a 56% rise on the EGP 1.90 trillion ($36.9 billion) recorded a year earlier. Transactions grew faster still, up 62% to 2.22 billion, while registered wallets climbed 23% to 57.01 million.

On one reading, that is exactly what Egypt’s regulators have been pushing for: a payments system that runs through telecom-linked wallets rather than banknotes. But the same data shows how far cash still reaches into it. Cash withdrawals made up just 12% of the transactions taking money out of wallets, yet 75% of the value withdrawn or spent.

Money arrives mostly from bank accounts: transfers through InstaPay accounted for 78% of deposit transactions and 58% of the value deposited, while incoming remittances from abroad made up 3% of deposit transactions but 10% of their value. Once inside, it largely moves between wallets – wallet-to-wallet transfers accounted for 54% of all transactions and 67% of total value, with mobile and internet top-ups a distant second at 25% of volume. In effect, the wallet is serving as a transfer layer: the place money passes through between the bank account and the banknote.

That layer also runs predominantly through one operator. Vodafone Cash held 53% of registered wallets and 57% of active ones, but handled 69% of transactions and 77% of their value. Its nearest rival, e& money, held 23% of registered wallets but 14% of transaction value; Orange Cash 20% and 8%; WE Pay 4% of wallets. How many of the 57.01 million are active is not stated.

Also Read: Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon

Adoption is rather uneven in other respects. Men held 38 million wallets, or 67% of the total, against 19 million held by women. Users aged 26 to 45 accounted for half of all wallets, and Cairo alone had 10.6 million, or 19% of the national total, with Giza next at 6.5 million.

The NTRA says it is continuing to work with telecom operators on the regulatory framework for wallet services, part of a wider effort to expand electronic payments and financial inclusion. Its own figures show that effort succeeding on the way in. On the way out, three-quarters of the value still leaves as cash.