Thread: Password Security Trivia

An exercise was conducted along these lines by an IT firm some time back. It was all done with pens.

The firm dressed up in their corporate shirts and went around to people saying " We are checking the password security of the system, to make sure people are constructing their passwords properly". Oh and here's a pen to thank you for your help.

HEAPS of people just TOLD THEM THEIR PASSWORDS OUTRIGHT>

Too bloody trusting.

An after hours survey also revealed that many people had their passwords written under their keyboards !

Just proves that technology is rarely the problem. People are the problem.

Scary.

I can recommend a book called "The Art of Deception" by Kevin Mitnick. He was on the FBI's most wanted list for awhile for a long list of "hacking" exploits.

In his book he lists various ways of gaining access to other people's systems. Most of them are very low tech and exploit social engineering. In most cases people are the weak link.

Kevin Mitnick - that's the guy I was trying to think of. The bloke is a genius.

(Evil genius perhaps, but genius nonetheless)

Originally Posted by VladTepes

Kevin Mitnick - that's the guy I was trying to think of. The bloke is a genius.

(Evil genius perhaps, but genius nonetheless)

Did he get to them by their number plates???

Originally Posted by Tombie2

Did he get to them by their number plates???

There is one in every crowd...

No he probably reasearched it meticulously for hours on online forums.

Originally Posted by Tombie2

Did he get to them by their number plates???

Funny you should say that because I remembered this story after replying to the number plate thread. People sometimes worry too much about the unlikely and miss the easy vulnerability.

I have worked in IT for nearly 30 years and what really gives me the irrits is idiots forcing me to change my password every 90 days. St George bank does it for business accounts. I have tried explaining to the numbskulls in the tech dept that it is actually less secure as eventually you end up writing it down to help you remember it.

Had the same user name and password with the nab ever since they started internet banking.

I have one password for anything not money related which is simple and I couldn't care if it gets compromised and one more complex for secure sites except St Bloody George.