I’m happy to report that I’m feeling a bit better today. I still tire easily and took a nice long nap this afternoon but I do seem to be getting well. The above is just a little administrivia for those interested in such things. The real topic of today’s post is security.
If you’ve been around Irreal for a few years, you may remember that I’d usually comment on the list of most popular passwords that was published every year. It was always fun to see if password or 123456 was the winner. Almost every year they would share the top two spots. It was fun to cluck cluck and shake our heads in disbelief at the passwords our Aunt Millies would choose.
I’m sure there’s a proverb on point but we shouldn’t have been so smug. The Copenhagen Post has a terrifying story about the Danish CPR being hacked. The CPR is Denmark’s Central Civil Registration database that contains personal information about Danish citizens so it’s a significant breach.
How did they do it? They guessed the password of a private company with access to the CPR. What was that password? 123456. I’m sorry but this just beggars belief. You have access to sensitive data about millions of people and you protect it with a password of 123456? That same password also worked for the administrator’s account.
I don’t know what things are like in Denmark but here in the U.S. the lawyers would already be sharpening their knives.