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Wanna Get Away – Generals Password

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I see this was posted 3 months ago to Youtube, but its new to me.

 

YouTube Video
Watch this video on YouTube.

This being blogging, lets over-analyze.

The General’s password is ihatemyjob1.

Not a bad password.  Using a passphrase is easy to remember.  Easy to type.
No doubt he should have capitalized the “I”.  Most systems can handle spaces, which would add some length.  Putting in a “@” in for a and a “0” in for o would add some complexity.  If the password file is compromised, this wouldn’t be enough to prevent breaking the hash.  But its good for a day-to-day logon.  For accounts where a password safe can be used to ease login, random would be better.  But that doesn’t work for every account.

The General’s password is echoed to the screen.   Typical security controls require that your password not be displayed on the screen.  It should be replaced by asterisks.  The General would also have been better entering it himself and not telling a subordinate the password.  He could have turned off the output of the computer to the big screen temporarily to prevent the room from seeing the password.

In pressure situations, its easy to take actions that compromise our security.  This is the type of feeling that phishers, and fraudsters often try to create so you just act and not thinking about if what you are doing makes sense.

Yes, it’s just a funny commercial.  But it can also be used as a teachable moment.  Hopefully without sucking all the fun out of the commercial

The post Wanna Get Away – Generals Password appeared first on Roger's Information Security Blog.


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