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The World's Most Dangerous Password

Posted by timothy on from the harsh-consequences dept.

NonNullSet writes "Minutemen ICBMs were deployed in the early 1960s, and grew to over 1000 in number. They were allegedly protected from a "rogue launch" by an approach known as PAL (Permissive Action Link). The PAL required that the correct 8-digit launch code be entered by the missiliers before the missile would establish ignition. What if all the PAL codes had been set to '00000000,' and 'everyone' in the Strategic Air Command knew it? That is unbelievably what happened, as described in this article from the Center for Defense Information. Not exactly a great example for getting people to choose difficult passwords!"

5 of 696 comments (clear)

  1. Re:At least it wasn't... by sik0fewl · · Score: 5, Informative

    Damn, beat me to it. Here it is anyway since you left out Skroob's quote :)

    ROLAND: No, wait, wait. I'll tell. I'll tell.

    HELMET: I knew it would work. All right, give to me.

    ROLAND: The combination is one.

    HELMET: One.

    SANDURZ: One.

    ROLAND: Two.

    HELMET: Two.

    SANDURZ: Two.

    ROLAND: Three.

    HELMET: Three.

    SANDURZ: Three

    ROLAND: Four.

    HELMET: Four.

    SANDURZ: Four.

    ROLAND: Five.

    HELMET: Five.

    SANDURZ: Five.

    HELMET: So the combination is one, two, three, four, five. That's the stupidest combination I've ever heard in my life. That's the kinda thing an idiot would have on his luggage.

    ----

    HELMET: We have the combination.

    SKROOB: Great. Now we can take every last breath fresh air from planet Druidia. What's the combination?

    SANDURZ: One, two, three, four, five.

    SKROOB: One, two, three, four, five? That's amazing. I've got the same combination on my luggage.
    --
    I remember when legal used to mean lawful, now it means some kind of loophole. - Leo Kessler
  2. Re:Reminds me ... by cipher+uk · · Score: 5, Informative

    i believe it was 111-1111111. the sum of the digits of the second area had to equal 7.
    so 111-1111111 aswell as 111-2020201 would work. the first 3 numbers could be anything.

    this was on a lot of pre-98 microsoft cds.

    more info on microsoft cd-keys

  3. Re:hmm by nightgeometry · · Score: 5, Informative

    It was Edgar Allan Poe, The Purloined Letter

    And damn good it is too.

    --
    The best is the enemy of the good
  4. Re:At least they're default routers... by ronsonal · · Score: 5, Informative

    While we're on the subject, and before this gets out of hand, just a reminder to everyone about

    The Default Password List

    Indispensible tool.

    --
    Your Mom
  5. Re:trust by Mostly+a+lurker · · Score: 5, Informative
    If Saddam Hussein didn't have WMDs, all he had to do was cooperate with the inspecters

    Well, according to Dr Hans Blix (the head of the inspection commission) Iraq was cooperating fairly well. The message that cooperation was inadequate was coming from the same source that was claiming incontrovertible evidence of ongoing WMD activity. Most of the world wanted inspections to continue, based on the doubts raised by the US, in spite of the fact that inspections were revealing nothing.