Even strong passwords offer little comfort when ransomware paralyzes entire networks
En el Día Mundial de Internet, los datos de Lacnic revelaron una paradoja latinoamericana: Argentina mostró mayor disciplina que sus vecinos al elegir contraseñas, pero la región entera enfrentó un aumento devastador de ataques de ransomware durante la pandemia. La expansión digital acelerada por el confinamiento no llegó de manera uniforme, dejando al descubierto tanto la fragilidad de las infraestructuras como las profundas desigualdades de acceso que persisten entre ciudades y provincias rurales. En la historia larga de la conectividad humana, este momento recuerda que la tecnología avanza más rápido que la capacidad colectiva de protegerse y de incluir a todos en sus beneficios.
- Los ataques de ransomware en América Latina crecieron más del 300% durante la pandemia, costando 350 millones de dólares en rescates solo en 2020.
- Aunque Argentina figura tercera en la región con apenas 1,6% de contraseñas débiles, la contraseña '123456' fue detectada más de 665.000 veces en el mundo, revelando que la negligencia digital sigue siendo masiva.
- El teletrabajo forzoso abrió millones de nuevas puertas de entrada a ciberataques, convirtiendo los hogares en el eslabón más débil de redes corporativas y gubernamentales.
- Dentro de Argentina, la brecha es abismal: Buenos Aires registra 108 conexiones de banda ancha por cada 100 hogares, mientras Mendoza y Santa Cruz apenas alcanzan 37 y 36 respectivamente.
- Expertos insisten en gestores de contraseñas, autenticación de dos factores y actualizaciones constantes, pero los datos sugieren que estas recomendaciones siguen siendo ignoradas por la mayoría.
El Día Mundial de Internet trajo consigo cifras que contaban dos historias simultáneas sobre Argentina. Por un lado, el registro regional Lacnic ubicó al país en el tercer lugar de América Latina en contraseñas débiles, con apenas el 1,6% —muy por detrás de Colombia con 8,8% y Brasil con 8,7%. Por otro, esa relativa prudencia no alcanzaba para proteger a una región que había visto dispararse los ataques de ransomware más de un 300% durante la pandemia, con organizaciones pagando 350 millones de dólares para recuperar sus archivos secuestrados.
La contraseña más frecuente en el mundo seguía siendo '123456', detectada 665.000 veces en 2020. En América Latina, '123456789', 'password' y 'senha' completaban un podio de la negligencia que Lacnic intentaba combatir con recomendaciones básicas: usar gestores de contraseñas, activar la autenticación de dos factores, evitar archivos de fuentes desconocidas y mantener los sistemas actualizados. El problema era que estos consejos, lejos de ser novedosos, seguían siendo ignorados masivamente.
Debajo de la cuestión de las contraseñas yacía una fractura más profunda. Argentina contaba con 36,32 millones de usuarios de internet, pero solo el 66% de los hogares tenía banda ancha fija. La desigualdad interna era elocuente: mientras Buenos Aires registraba 108 conexiones por cada 100 hogares, Mendoza y Santa Cruz apenas superaban las 36. La pandemia había acelerado la transformación digital —el 96,3% de los encuestados había comprado en línea en el último año— pero esa expansión se construyó sobre una base fragmentada por la geografía y el acceso desigual. El Día de Internet celebraba el progreso; los datos recordaban cuánto camino quedaba por recorrer.
On World Internet Day, a regional registry released numbers that told two stories at once: Argentina's citizens were surprisingly cautious with their passwords, yet the country remained deeply vulnerable to the very attacks those weak credentials enable. The Latin American and Caribbean Internet Registry, known as Lacnic, compiled 2020 data showing Argentina ranked third in the region for weak passwords at 1.6 percent—well behind Colombia at 8.8 percent and Brazil at 8.7 percent. Globally, the United Kingdom led the unfortunate ranking at 13 percent, followed by Russia at 9.8 percent. Yet these numbers masked a larger crisis unfolding across the region.
The pandemic had accelerated a dangerous shift. As offices closed and workers moved home, ransomware attacks across Latin America and the Caribbean surged more than 300 percent. These malicious programs encrypt files on infected computers, locking users out until they pay a ransom for the decryption key. In 2020 alone, organizations paid $350 million to recover from such attacks. The irony was sharp: even as Argentines chose relatively stronger passwords than their neighbors, the region's infrastructure and practices remained dangerously exposed.
The most commonly discovered weak password globally was "123456," detected 665,016 times throughout 2020. In Latin America specifically, "123456789" appeared 320,211 times, followed by the word "password" itself (176,306 times) and "senha," the Portuguese word for password (167,140 times). Users consistently chose simplicity over security, favoring combinations they could easily remember over the complex, random strings that experts recommended. Lacnic emphasized the need for unique, secure, and random passwords, yet the data showed most people ignored this advice entirely.
The organization outlined basic defenses: create passwords that avoid obvious patterns like birthdays or family names; use a password manager rather than writing credentials in notebooks or cloud documents; enable two-factor authentication, which requires a second verification code sent via text or app; avoid opening files and links from unknown sources; download software only from official sites; and keep operating systems updated with security solutions installed. These were not novel recommendations, yet the persistence of weak passwords suggested they remained largely unheeded.
Beyond password strength lay a deeper problem. Internet access itself remained unequally distributed across the region and within Argentina. While global internet users had grown 7.3 percent in 2020 to reach 4.66 billion by January 2021, the gains were not evenly shared. In Latin America, Brazil dominated with 160 million users, followed by Mexico with 92 million. Argentina held third place with 36.32 million users, ahead of Colombia's 34.32 million. Yet within Argentina, the divide was stark. The International Telecommunication Union found that only half of rural households across the Americas had internet access, while nearly three-quarters of urban homes were connected.
Argentina's own data reflected this disparity. As of September 2020, just over 60 percent of Argentine households had fixed broadband access—9.36 million connections representing 66 percent penetration per 100 homes. Growth had slowed to just 2.1 percent year-over-year. But provincial breakdowns revealed the true inequality: Buenos Aires maintained 108 fixed internet accesses per 100 households, while Mendoza and Santa Cruz lagged at 37 and 36 respectively. The pandemic had driven rapid digital transformation—96.3 percent of surveyed people had made an online purchase in the previous year, and small businesses had rushed to build e-commerce platforms and chatbots. Yet this expansion had happened atop a foundation that remained fractured by geography and access.
As the region celebrated World Internet Day on May 17, the occasion was meant to highlight the importance of information and communication technologies in modern life and to push for closing the digital divide. The data suggested the work was far from finished. Argentina's relatively strong password discipline offered little comfort when ransomware could still paralyze entire networks, when rural residents still lacked basic connectivity, and when the pandemic had accelerated a digital transformation that left many behind.
Citas Notables
The number of users of Internet in the world grew 7.3% in the past year and reached 4.66 billion by January 2021, with Argentina holding 36.32 million users.— Sebastián Stranieri, CEO of VU Security
Small businesses had to transform and learn rapidly how to build online operations, from setting up e-commerce platforms to implementing chatbots and using tools like WhatsApp Business.— Mercedes Morera, director of SMEs at Snoop Consulting
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does Argentina rank so much better than its neighbors on password strength? Is there something different about how Argentines approach security?
The numbers are interesting but probably misleading. Argentina at 1.6 percent looks good next to Colombia and Brazil, but that might reflect different user populations or reporting methods rather than a genuine cultural difference. The real story is that even 1.6 percent is too high—and it doesn't matter if you have a strong password when ransomware is hitting the region 300 percent harder than before.
So the password ranking is almost a distraction from the bigger threat?
Exactly. Lacnic released these rankings on World Internet Day, which is meant to celebrate connectivity and digital progress. But the data they presented actually shows how fragile that progress is. Weak passwords are a symptom, not the disease.
What changed during the pandemic that made ransomware attacks explode?
Remote work. When everyone moved home, they connected personal devices to corporate networks, used home Wi-Fi instead of secure office infrastructure, and became easier targets. Attackers knew people were desperate to access their files and would pay. Three hundred percent growth in a single year—that's not gradual evolution, that's a structural shift in vulnerability.
And the $350 million in ransom payments—that's just what people admitted to paying?
Almost certainly. Many organizations pay in silence to avoid publicity or regulatory scrutiny. That number is a floor, not a ceiling.
The internet access gap seems like the longer-term problem. How does that connect to cybersecurity?
If you don't have reliable internet access, you're already excluded from the digital economy. But when you finally do get connected—maybe through a shared device, maybe through a mobile hotspot—you're often less equipped to protect yourself. You're using older devices, older software, and you're more likely to fall for phishing or download malware because you're less familiar with digital risks. The divide creates vulnerability.
So closing the access gap is actually a security imperative, not just an equity one?
It's both. You can't have digital security without digital literacy, and you can't have digital literacy without access. Argentina's 66 percent broadband penetration sounds reasonable until you see that Buenos Aires has 108 connections per 100 homes while rural provinces have a third of that. You're creating a country where some people are digitally secure and some are digitally invisible.