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FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

1 edit

1 recommendation

FFH5

Premium Member

Also a thread in the Comcast HSI forum

Comcast support has posted info in the Comcast HSI forum on this subject:
»Passwords of 8,000 Comcast Customers Exposed

Comcast customer support in the above msg thread claims that after duplicates in the list and inactive accounts were identified, there were only about 700 actual active accounts exposed.

keyboard5684
Sam
join:2001-08-01
Pittsburgh, PA

keyboard5684

Member

For a minute, I was surprised to see how many people used password as their... password?

Most ISPs usually require a number or something in there, but to allow for password to be the password is a little weird. Granted, it is all on the users side, for the ISP, spam and other problems are more the ISPs problem.
WareWolF2k
join:2000-11-14
Allentown, PA

WareWolF2k

Member

RCN used to use "password" as a default password at one time. You are supposed to go on their web site and change it to something unique but some people never do.

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium Member
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

dvd536

Premium Member

said by WareWolF2k:

RCN used to use "password" as a default password at one time. You are supposed to go on their web site and change it to something unique but some people never do.
cox does the same thing.
-
if comcast still gives 2gb/mo on giganews, i bet lots of those were used to steal giganews service.

pleekmo
Triptoe Through The Tulips
Premium Member
join:2001-09-14
Manchester, CT

2 recommendations

pleekmo to keyboard5684

Premium Member

to keyboard5684

Re: Passwords

You just made my day! (Well, night, actually.)

I'd happened to find a Compaq Presario 6410nx in a midden. Wouldn't power up. I finally found out this evening that the thing uses standard ATX pinouts and I shove in a PSU that I happened to have lying about.

Powering up the computer I'm faced with an XP Pro login screen. Null password wouldn't work but your post prompted me to attempt "password". Well, it worked!

Retired6
Premium Member
join:2002-11-09
Earth

Retired6 to FFH5

Premium Member

to FFH5

Re: Also a thread in the Comcast HSI forum

Awesome !
NoPumpGas
join:2005-10-23
Glen Allen, VA

1 edit

NoPumpGas to FFH5

Member

to FFH5
And you believe them?

If they say the number is 700, you better wake up and realize it is probably triple that. That is nothing more then damage control talking, not reality.

Working for a IDS/IPS Security Operations Center, we handle outsourced accounts for allot of companies. I see first hand that what is reported as being compromised to the public is nothing more then PR talk. The real number of compromised accounts will most likely never see the light of day.

Security is most always an afterthought, especially in the world of ISP's.

keyboard5684
Sam
join:2001-08-01
Pittsburgh, PA

keyboard5684 to pleekmo

Member

to pleekmo

Re: Passwords

LOL... There are a lot of small businesses where I come in and do consulting for. When it is after the fact, meaning I come in after server and some PCs are setup, I try the following combination (50% say "I do not know the password" but login everyday)...

password (username as a password) null computer "the company phone number" "the company name" I
I
n many cases the password is written on a yellow sticky note buried in a pile or on the side of a monitor...

It is the age old security problem, password. I wish biometrics would be used more (I used to have an HP laptop that had a fingerprint scanner on it). Just have the user login using their fingerprint... they have to have fingers to type.

I wonder WHY have biometrics not become main-stream? They are cheap now, easy to use, and should be incorporated into the operating system (and they are in Windows, just like a smartcard)???
Corydon
Cultivant son jardin
Premium Member
join:2008-02-18
Denver, CO

Corydon to dvd536

Premium Member

to dvd536

Re: Also a thread in the Comcast HSI forum

They discontinued that a little while back.
DonLibes

join:2003-01-19

DonLibes to keyboard5684

to keyboard5684

Re: Passwords

Biometrics have all sorts of problems. It's all there in the literature.

cdru
Go Colts
MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN

cdru to WareWolF2k

MVM

to WareWolF2k

Re: Also a thread in the Comcast HSI forum

said by WareWolF2k:

RCN used to use "password" as a default password at one time. You are supposed to go on their web site and change it to something unique but some people never do.
said by WareWolF2k:

RCN used to use "password" as a default password at one time. You are supposed to go on their web site and change it to something unique but some people never do.
That's why, as a system admin, I make the default password a 64-character mixture of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols, and other unicode characters. Users get so frustrated the first time they have to enter the password and figure out how to type characters like , , and that they always change it. Of course they usually change it to "password" but at least the blame is on them and not me.

aaronwt
Premium Member
join:2004-11-07
Woodbridge, VA
Asus RT-AX89

1 edit

aaronwt

Premium Member

said by cdru:

said by WareWolF2k:

RCN used to use "password" as a default password at one time. You are supposed to go on their web site and change it to something unique but some people never do.
said by WareWolF2k:

RCN used to use "password" as a default password at one time. You are supposed to go on their web site and change it to something unique but some people never do.
That's why, as a system admin, I make the default password a 64-character mixture of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols, and other unicode characters. Users get so frustrated the first time they have to enter the password and figure out how to type characters like , , and that they always change it. Of course they usually change it to "password" but at least the blame is on them and not me.
64 characters!?!?
I bet they love you. That is a crazy amount of characters to enter, even to initally setup up your own password.

cdru
Go Colts
MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN

cdru

MVM

said by aaronwt:

64 characters!?!?
I bet they love you. That is a crazy amount of characters to enter, even to initally setup up your own password.
I wasn't serious. Typical password policy is 8 characters and must have at least 3 of the following 4 things: Uppercase, lowercase, number, symbol.