Tulsi Gabbard Reused the Same Weak Password on Multiple Accounts for Years
Tulsi Gabbard Reused the Same Weak Password on Multiple Accounts for Years
www.wired.com
Tulsi Gabbard Reused the Same Weak Password on Multiple Accounts for Years
25 comments
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Meh, I can't dunk on this one. Despite paying for a password manager, I still use the same password for things I don't care about / that can't be used to exploit me. The other day I had to register for something stupid and that's what I used, yet again. Granted, I'm not logging into game-changing accounts with it, but I get it. I'll dunk on her for policy.
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Given the absurd number of sites that require a login for no discernible security reason at all whatsoever; I get it.
A "Common" password makes sense. This password should never be used to log into or protect anything secure however.
Similarly a "Common" password might be used to enable login more easily from certain devices; but ideally this "temporary" password should probably be something that is, yet again, different from the first "Common" password you use.
It boggles my mind that someone like this isn't at least using a specific passphrase for secure work accounts only.
While I can personally understand a need for some password reuse across multiple domains; at least there should be some separation of larger "superdomains" such as "work", "personal" and "throwaway" so that breaches don't have such a catastrophic impact.
A system of generating secure, unrelated but memorable phrases (for you) for those times you can't carry or use a password manager is frequently essential. That way you can recall the password on the fly when it is asked of you; all you need to do is think about the unrelated thing you attached that information to.
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Ditto. I use unique passwords for services I care about / someone could exfiltrate sensitive data, and a cheap reused password for services I don't care about and could easily regain access to with a password reset email.
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Good thing they put her in charge of intelligence, then.
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Plausible deniability for when it's discovered her accounts are controlled from Moscow?
"Oh, I must have been hacked cuz weak passwords. That's why my account sent our classified war plans to Putin."
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Everyone knows you do that on Signal.
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Or a manky Signal clone with backdoors transmitting everything in plain text...
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That's weird.i have my browsers set up so if I type my password all that shows up is ******2
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Material from breaches shows that during a portion of this period, she used the same password across multiple email addresses and online accounts, in contravention of well-established best practices for online security. (There is no indication that she used the password on government accounts.)
This is... not interesting
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It should be interesting considering she's currently the director of national intelligence yet seemed to learn about security during the time of AOL floppy disks.
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Those were the days ... free storage sent in the mail or attached to a magazine.
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Until it turns out she was using the personal accounts for governmental business....
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Perhaps, but like actual hygiene, not having good digital hygiene stays with you between personal and work personas. It is troubling considering she is the Director of National Intelligence and it's something which should be a baseline requirement for the position. Regardless of party affiliation, it's competence we should demand for those in these positions.
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If people only knew how many anti/sec professionals do this, this would be in a zone with ASCII art, not Wired, but frankly, after what Poulson and Lamo did to Chelsea Manning, I really don't expect better from the media specifically marketed to those with an interest in anything tech related. I did before that happened, but after the absolute apathy from the public sector, if not outright hostility toward Ms. Manning, I expected and do expect the absolute worst, for the sake of sweet, profitable clicks. What I continue to be surprised about is how utterly bottomless this particular hole is. Really a black hole more than a mere abyss.
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I totally have unique passwords for all my hundreds of accounts around the internet.
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This reads as sarcastic to me, but I and many others legitimately do, through the use of a password manager. I have an encrypted database that syncs between my phone, laptop, and a vps, and I occasionally manually back up to a free email account. I only need to remember the one password to unlock the db.
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25 comments