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February 5, 2014

US Government passwords are easy to break

What has 8 letters and sounds like 'password'? Hint: p***word. Welcome to the Homeland Security Department.

By Cbr Rolling Blog

A new US congressional report has found that some of the US Government’s passwords that often protect ‘sensitive data’ are very, very easy to work out.

All the hits are there, including passwords like ‘password’, ‘qwerty’ and even administrators own names!

These passwords left Homeland Security Department data vulnerable, says a report released Tuesday by the Republican staff of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Amongst other security bungles, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission left nuclear-plant security details on a shared drive with no protection.

Other hilarious cases of bad IT security from the report note hackers taking over an Emergency Broadcast System to warn TV viewers of a zombie outbreak.

Things just aren’t goof at the Department of Homeland Security, says Defense One.

"To take just one example, weaknesses found in the office of the Chief Information Officer for ICE included 10 passwords written down, 15 FOUO (For Official Use Only) documents left out, three keys, six unlocked laptops — even two credit cards left out," Defense One relayed the report as saying.

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