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Healthcare executives are increasingly exposing their companies to more breaches due to weak passwords, a new study reveals. 

An analysis by NordPass, a proprietary password manager, found that healthcare was among the top industries that were breached due to high-ranking business executives and company enders use of weak and easy-to-crack passwords. 

Independent researchers analyzed more than 290 million data breaches worldwide. They grouped passwords according to job title and industry.

The most common passwords used by C-level executives, managers and business owners included “123455,” “password” and “qwerty.” 

Corporate data breaches are mostly caused by weak or reused passwords, password sharing, phishing, human error and poor cybersecurity infrastructure. 

Data breaches have also been costly. An IBM report revealed that in 2021, the average global cost of a data breach was $4.24 million —10% higher when compared to 2020. The attacks that happen due to compromised credentials cost even more at $4.37 million and account for 20% of all breaches.

NordPass called on providers to deploy a business password manager to strengthen password security, introduce cybersecurity training and enable multi-factor authentication. 

“It is unbelievable how similar we all think, and this research simply confirms that — what we might consider being very original, in fact, can place us in the list of most common,” Jonas Karklys, the CEO of NordPass, said in a statement. “Everyone from gamer teenagers to company owners are targets of cybercrimes, and the only difference is that business entities, as a rule, pay a higher price for their unawareness.”

For additional coverage visit the McKnight’s Business Daily.