BIG OOPS…Weak Passwords
The IEEE is a well-known organization for technologists and has over 400,000 members. On September 18, Romanian programmer Radu Dragusin discovered unencrypted IEEE login credentials left publicly available on its FTP server. He says he found “99,979 unique usernames” and passwords. The servers also showed all of the members’ activities on the website and may have remained unprotected for at least a month.
As Ars Technica points out, while this is an embarrassment for the IEEE, what might be more embarrassing are the kinds of passwords being used by the members. Among the 99,979 usernames and passwords he found, 271 people used the password “123456,” followed by “ieee2012,” “12345678,” 123456789,” and “password.” ––Venture Beat
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