Following the news about security fail of highest proportions, Charter Spectrum, the second largest cable provider in the US has urged customers to change their wi-fi passwords in support of their favourite Super Bowl team. It tweeted: “Change your WiFi password and show guests where your loyalty lies! #ThatsMyTeam”. Cesare Garlati, Chief Security Strategist at the prpl Foundation commented below.
Cesare Garlati, Chief Security Strategist at the prpl Foundation:
“By getting customers to change their passwords to either “GO_NEWENGLAND” or “GO_ATLANTA” it completely takes the guess work away from anyone who can easily force their way onto the customer’s wi-fi network, which is the gateway to all of the connected devices in the home. In short, it is nothing less than a horrible idea and points to the sheer lack of security education that the industry faces. Passwords should always be random and at least 16 characters for wi-fi in order to circumvent the “dictionary” approach hackers favour for brute forcing passwords. And if the company had meant to suggest users change the SSID – the discoverable part of the wi-fi network that people would see – that wouldn’t represent a security issue per se but would make connecting to residential Wi-Fi very difficult – if not impossible – in a neighbourhood with many fans of the same team.”
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