Week 5 - Network Exposed Passwords During TV Interview

            A co-worker of mine found a hilarious article that describes how a French TV network probably got hacked. David Delos, a TV reporter, did a recent televised appearance in front of a co-workers desk. The co-worker’s desk was covered in sticky notes that had usernames and passwords all over the desk. (Machkovech, 2015) This made me laugh because it just seems so ironic. In information security this is one of the most basic protection mechanisms. You never put your password on a sticky note in front of a computer. It’s even more ironic that they chose to film the TV appearance in front of that specific desk.

            In today’s world, I am actually shocked that this type of situation was even able to occur. I can’t help but laugh at the simplicity of fixing this situation or at least choosing not to publically broadcast the fact that employees at that company display their passwords in that manner. It’s just one of those situations that in the security world seems like it shouldn’t happen anymore but I suppose it still does. Hopefully, they will learn from this event in the future.

References

Machkovech, S. (2015, April 9). Hacked French network exposed its own passwords during TV interview. Retrieved from ARS Technica: http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/04/hacked-french-network-exposed-its-own-passwords-during-tv-interview/