U.S. Water Utilities Were Hacked Because Their Passwords Were Set to ‘1111’, Report Reveals

When it comes to weak passwords, each bit of news is more headache inducing than the last.

If you thought individuals had easy to crack passwords, think again because, despite thousands of PSAs, organizations still use default passwords – even critical ones like water facilities.

A new report in Fast Company cites cybersecurity officials who say they’ve seen water facilities hacked easily because of using incredibly weak passwords like ‘1111’.

From their report:

Some of the compromised devices had been connected to the open internet with a default password of “1111,” federal authorities say, making it easy for hackers to find them and gain access.

Fixing that “doesn’t cost any money,” Neuberger says, “and those are the kinds of basic things that we really want companies urgently to do.”

The outlet explains how an Iranian hacking group known as CyberAv3ngers has led a campaign of terror against US water utilities, which are vulnerable because they use antiquated  Israel-manufactured Unitronics programmable logic controllers – and have bad security measures like weak, default passwords.

If you have a few minutes, their report is a great look into what cybersecurity experts are doing to secure vulnerable and critical infrastructure.

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