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Default Passwords Blamed In $55M PBX Hacks

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the god-sex-love dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Washington Post is reporting that the US Justice Department has indicted three residents of the Philippines for breaking into more than 2,500 corporate PBX systems in the United States and abroad. The government says the hackers sold access to those systems to operators of call centers in Italy, which allegedly made 12 million minutes of unauthorized phone calls through the system, valued at more than $55 million. The DOJ's action coincides with an announcement from Italian authorities today of the arrest of five men there who are suspected of funneling the profits from those call centers to terrorist groups in Southeast Asia."

12 of 102 comments (clear)

  1. 12345 post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    12345

    1. Re:12345 post by masshuu · · Score: 3, Funny

      access denied
      (hint: the default password for the system is "qwert" if this is your first time accessing it)

      --
      O.o
    2. Re:12345 post by EdIII · · Score: 3, Funny

      12345

      That's the kinda thing an idiot would have on his luggage.

    3. Re:12345 post by smittyoneeach · · Score: 2, Funny

      That's the kind of thing an idiot would post in reply to a slashdot post about a luggage combination.

      --
      Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
  2. Which one was it? by Laser_iCE · · Score: 4, Funny

    admin or password?

  3. Re:That's a spicy meatball! by stephanruby · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hey, they're terrorists! Terrorists get to set their own prices. Also, may be there is some value in having a voice mail number traceable to a legitimate corporation in the United States. Also, the article confirmed something that I always knew deep down in my gut, telemarketers are terrorists. This makes a lot of sense actually.

  4. Re:Hacking? by shentino · · Score: 2, Funny

    You must work for LifeLock

  5. Re:Hacking? by iamdrscience · · Score: 2, Funny

    Never leave default passwords is Rule #1. Or at least in the top 3.

    Indeed. The rules of IT:

    1. You do not talk about IT.
    2. You DO NOT talk about IT.
    3. Never leave default passwords.
    4. No girls allowed.
  6. Re:That's a spicy meatball! by PopeRatzo · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hey, they're terrorists! Terrorists get to set their own prices.

    That's no way to talk about the phone company.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  7. simple solution.. by orange47 · · Score: 3, Funny

    ..make all default passwords hard to guess!

    1. Re:simple solution.. by Celeste+R · · Score: 2, Funny

      Nobody would suspect the

      spanishinquisition

      --
      There are no perfect answers, only the right questions. More questions at http://foresightandhindsight.blogspot.com/
  8. Missed Call Centrees by Luthair · · Score: 3, Funny

    At first I thought it was trying to claim that 3 men used 12 million minutes of phone time, I mean three women I could believe!