Over 40,000 admin portal accounts use 'admin' as a password::Security researchers found that IT administrators are using tens of thousands of weak passwords to protect access to portals, leaving the door open to cyberattacks on enterprise networks.
I find their statements a bit on the sweeping side.
Out of more than 1.8 million administrator credentials analyzed, over 40,000 entries were “admin,” showing that the default password is widely accepted by IT administrators.
That's just over 2 percent. "Widely accepted" in my book is a much larger percentage..
2% is plenty enough to get a lot of orgs malwared. What gets me is the number of orgs that just have administrative systems internet-facing. That's the first fail
Hey, just a heads up, you can just upvote the comment if you found it entertaining. People generally expect replies to add meaningful information the the parent comment.
I think I can say this now because it's been 10 years. But in one of my old jobs, I set a new windows administrator password for all assets across the organization. Previously it was 8 characters with a known word with an exclamation point added at the end.
I got the approval to set a new password that would be secure but easy to remember for the IT guys that would be using it on a daily basis. They complained about my first two choices, so I said fuck it and changed it to F0rH315ThEKwi$atzHad3rach!
I could remember it just fine. Still do to this day lol. They complained about a 14 character password before and I was tired of trying to get them on board.
As soon as I left for greener pastures, I heard they changed the password to something easy again. Oh well, not my problem anymore.
Always work that into any discussion around passwords to find out who the kindred souls are in the room. Either instant smiles or awkward pauses, so good to sort the chaff from the wheat.
There not really much in the article but i know a lot of stuff gets shipped with admin/admin. A lot of manufacturers are starting to ship with secure passwords and a requirement to make one on first boot.
I worked for an organization that was pawned by ransomware. That administered around 4500 Windows PCs. All and every one of them had an admin account that was "adminarea" and the password was "areaadmin"
And no doubt for a bunch of off-brand internet-connected cameras. Or, those are just totally open to the whole world. Glad to see Shodan is still up... Though I'd hoped some mfg would change their practices once it became obvious no one changes the default.
Meh. Username shouldn’t matter anyway. Make sure the password is secure (and stored securely).
I had a loaned ISP router in the early naughts that I couldn’t change the admin password, but it was the same for all their boxes and someone posted it on my bulletin board. I changed it as soon as I could, but the techs were furious. Whatever man, I’m not letting anyone take control of my LAN because you can’t figure this shit out.