God help us.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest accounts were hacked over the weekend.
The breach occurred after Zuckerberg’s login credentials were apparently exposed in a recent LinkedIn data leak that exposed millions of users’ login credentials.
Following that password dump, a relatively unknown hacking group (or possibly an individual) called Ourmine hacked Zuckerberg’s Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest accounts, and bragged publically about the hacks on its Twitter account, which has since been suspended.
Zuckerberg’s Facebook and Instagram accounts were not affected in the hack.
Ourmine claims to have found Zuckerberg’s passwords among the exposed LinkedIn logins.
That password? ‘dadada.’
That’s right, billionaire tech guru Mark Zuckerberg’s password consists of just two characters, and is reminiscent of a baby’s firsts words. Heck, maybe they’re his kid’s first words, which I guess could be kind of cute, but still— ridiculously insecure.
Bad passwords are nothing new, and they’re all-too-common, but the fact that one of the world’s most powerful businessmen couldn’t come up with anything better than ‘dadada?” Well that’s just embarrassing. This is a man who’s company has an entire division dedicated to security, he should know better.
What’s more, this breach implies that Zuckerberg has been reusing that ridiculously simple password across multiple sites, which is, needless to say, a big no-no.
Following the hack, Zuckerberg’s affected accounts were quickly re-secured, probably with stronger passwords.
The moral of the story? Think twice before reusing that crummy password you’ve had since the America Online Instant Messenger days.
Here are a few tips to better passwords from SplashData, who put together the always entertaining Worst Passwords of the Year lists.
- Use passwords or passphrases of twelve characters or more with mixed types of characters
- Avoid using the same password over and over again on different websites
- Use a password manager to organize and protect passwords, generate random passwords, and automatically log into websites
The Forrester Cloud IAM (IDaaS) Wave Report is here.
- Full B2E Cloud IAM Market Overview
- Three Top Vendors Compete For Market Supremacy
- Vendor Profiles: Leaders, Strong Performers & Contenders
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Jeff Edwards
Jeff Edwards is an enterprise technology writer and analyst covering Identity Management, SIEM, Endpoint Protection, and Cybersecurity writ large. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and previously worked as a reporter covering Boston City Hall.
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