Generic Passwords Expose Student Data

Makarand writes "The personal information of thousands of California children and their teachers was open to public view when the school districts issued a generic password to teachers using the system. Until the teacher used the system and changed the generic password to a unique password, anyone was able to type in a teacher's user name and generic password to gain access. Administrators shut down access to the service after a reporter phoned in to let them know that she had been able to access student information for all the children in two middle-school classes where the teachers had not yet changed their passwords." From the article: "'I'm fuming mad,' said Sarah Gadye, the San Francisco middle school teacher who discovered the problem Thursday -- three years after the district purchased the service for elementary and middle school teachers. 'My own child could go into this, figure it out and get all this data on all these students. It's mind-boggling.'"

Comments

Re:Been going on since the 80s if not earlier

[Red Flayer]

"There were many non-student users at 'The Apocalyptic Cyber Coven' back then. Name the school and you get a cookie."

Ooh, ooh, a cookie! Can I have some Spam, too?