Many people use the same password for every online account they own. Whether it’s a pet’s name, favorite team, or a simple series of numbers, passwords that are easy to guess could potentially put your personal information at risk.

According to a recent study by the UK’s National Cyber Security Center (NCSC), “123456” was the most used password on the accounts that had been hacked. Other popular passwords were “123456789”, “QWERTY” (the upper line of the keyboard), and “1111111.”

Having the same password for every account is almost as bad as having a password that is easy to guess. If you have all of the same passwords for each account, all of your private accounts will be vulnerable.

Although it is easier to have similar passwords for each account you own, you are putting yourself at great risk. Someone could find a simple password to something such as your Instagram and use the same password to access something as private as your bank accounts.

Different variations of the same password can be more secure, but it can be difficult to remember which password variation goes to which account. Although different passwords create more security for your online accounts, it can easily be forgotten which password goes with each account. This can cause problems when you have to keep changing your password, which can be annoying.

I am constantly forgetting which password goes with which online account. It is especially annoying when I go to change the password and it says the password cannot be the same as before. Personally, I use many variations of two different passwords, but the password to my email is completely unique. I do this because it is easier to remember one single “root” password than doing a completely different password for each account.

Although having many different passwords is difficult to remember, it is much safer than having a password that could potentially risk losing online security with the simple guess of a hacker.