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Default Passwords: A Hacker's Dream

 
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quietman7
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Joined: 20 Dec 2004
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Location: Virginia, USA

PostPosted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 3:47 am    Post subject: Default Passwords: A Hacker's Dream Reply with quote

Quote:
Convicted hacker Robert Moore, who is set to go to federal prison this week, says breaking into 15 telecommunications companies and hundreds of businesses worldwide was incredibly easy because simple IT mistakes left gaping technical holes...Moore said what made the hacking job so easy was that 70% of all the companies he scanned were insecure, and 45% to 50% of VoIP providers were insecure. The biggest insecurity? Default passwords. "I'd say 85% of them were misconfigured routers. They had the default passwords on them,"..."All it takes is one bad access point and they're in," he noted. "The weak link -- you find that one point and all the security unravels...You only have to have one default password and all your security is at risk."


informationweek.com
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tripkill201
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Location: Approximately 2.3698 billion light years away.

PostPosted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 12:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

One of the exact reasons I leave no trace of my browsing habits online. In fact, I even have Webroot's Window Washer and One-Click Maintenance installed on my computer to make sure no one can trace what I do on my computer. AdBlock Plus also helps, as I haven't had one of those rotten tracking cookies ever since I installed the extension.
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suzi
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Last Visit: 18 Jun 2013
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 7:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

tripkill201,

What you are doing is good, but it may not protect you if your passwords are not strong. Passwords can be stolen by dictionary attacks -- for example you have an eBay account and the password is 12345, a hacker can get your password in a split second. I've seen lists of stolen usernames and passwords. People use passwords like password, 12345, 54321, their first name, their dog's name, their kid's name... those are easy to guess and very easy to get using a dictionary attack.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictionary_attack

Here's some info about how to use strong passwords.

http://www.microsoft.com/protect/yourself/password/create.mspx

Also security software won't help you if your router still has the default factory password. If you use a router, wired or wireless, it's very important to change the password and not keep the default factory password. That's what the article is about
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tripkill201
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Joined: 24 Jun 2007
Last Visit: 23 Feb 2008
Posts: 175
Location: Approximately 2.3698 billion light years away.

PostPosted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 8:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

suzi wrote:
tripkill201,

What you are doing is good, but it may not protect you if your passwords are not strong. Passwords can be stolen by dictionary attacks -- for example you have an eBay account and the password is 12345, a hacker can get your password in a split second. I've seen lists of stolen usernames and passwords. People use passwords like password, 12345, 54321, their first name, their dog's name, their kid's name... those are easy to guess and very easy to get using a dictionary attack.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictionary_attack

Here's some info about how to use strong passwords.

http://www.microsoft.com/protect/yourself/password/create.mspx

Also security software won't help you if your router still has the default factory password. If you use a router, wired or wireless, it's very important to change the password and not keep the default factory password. That's what the article is about

I write all of my passwords in a custom cipher, and words I've completely made up from now on. All of my passwords are at least 50 characters and over.

(Oh, and suzi, do you mind changing my screen name to Cryoptix?)
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