Need the opposite costume, the overly eager sys admin.
- wants to force password changes once a month for security
- constantly changing security policies to reflect the flavor of the month
- constantly sends out phishing emails tests, wonders why no one replies to any of his emails
My fucking uni is trying to move to passwordless, but you will always need a password to log onto any lab device, and to the wifi, so why?
I mean you don’t actually need a password for that when it’s implemented the right way
A website once complained my password contained 3 consecutive letters there were 1 away from each other. This was back when I used sentences for passwords. It was complaining about the word worst because of r-s-t.
Sysadmin: “A clear indication of phishing email is the sense of urgency. We would never send out any email regarding urgent updates that needs immediate action.”
Also sysadmin: “URGENT!!! You must update your system now before Friday!!! Click link here for instructions! Otherwise you will be locked out!”
Then do this to computer-shaped instrument controller systems that have accounts that can not have passwords changed or the application won’t run. Or service accounts, so if you pop in after 6 months, nobody knows the current password and the IT guy only comes in 2 hours/week. And that was yesterday. And no, no contact information present…
- Installs antivirus on servers that wrecks application performance
- installs content filtering proxy that prevents developers from reading “hacking materials” like OWASP documentation
- won’t let developers install anything on their own machines without filing a ticket and waiting 6 weeks
- pushes unannounced antivirus updates that pop up OS security dialogs like “Netscan Antivirus would like to monitor all network traffic. Enter your password to approve”, and is surprised when users don’t enter their passwords.
Your corporate IT guy
They usually don’t have a choice. They know this stuff is bad, but they need it to demonstrate compliance with XYZ framework so they can fill out the marketing copy so sales can land a contract with some big customer that wants to know why $competitor has better security than you.
Password expiration is no longer considered a best practice. FYI.
I got to step 20, where my password suddenly caught on fire and Paul died.
My day is ruined.
Yes, that’s true, and hasn’t been considered so for a long time
It was never best practices for anyone who had common sense.
It just forced people to make insecure, easy to remember passwords, cause they were gonna be changed in again soon so why make it complicated and hard to remember.
Encourages users to just add a rotating number or other not too secure thing to their password. I know that’s what I did when I worked somewhere with that dumbfuck policy.
Yep. My least secure password is the one I use at work because I’m restricted to 9-12 characters, can’t be sequential forwards or backwards including keys next to each other (abc, 123, qwerty), can’t begin with a number, must contain at least three numbers, must be at least four characters different from your last twelve passwords, and must be changed every 90 days. Oh and it can’t include your first or last name.
Most of my coworkers just use a family members name and then change a few numbers at the end and keep a post it note at their desk with the numbers so they don’t forget it.
I would imagine most users change their password by only 1 character, and maybe even in sequential order.
When time comes to change the password, it becomes password1234 instead of password123. Or password234. Something easy to remember, most users don’t care about best security practices, and changing to a similar password is very convenient. Especially if it’s “only” for work stuff
“What do you mean this password is too short? I use it for everything!”
Even worse is the CEO.
He needs access to everything and he’s far too important to waste time with security.
