- The schools are being exposed by weak passwords within their organization
- Computer pirates are increasingly addressed to educational institutions
- ‘123456’ and ‘Password’ are found in the 5 main passwords most used in education
Universities, schools and training centers are being left vulnerable by an endemic to weak passwords in the educational industry, shows a new Nordvpn research.
The company’s analysis reveals that the educational institutions fall short of choosing passwords to remember (but easy to guess), which describes the 20 most reused passwords in the education sector, and finding 1,233,447 uses observed is ‘123456’, followed closely by ‘123456789’ and ‘21345678’, with only one million exams Combined
Ironically, within the five most used passwords, there are also ‘password’ and ‘secret’. It is not necessary to say that these are contenders for the least safe passwords, and that this could leave their organization vulnerable, regardless of which sector operates.
Not so secret passwords
“Educational institutions handle large amounts of personal information, from students to students to internal communications, but many depend on passwords that would even fail the most basic cybersecurity test. The use of default or recycled credentials leaves the entire system vulnerable to attacks,” says Karolis Arbaciauskas, head of commercial products in NordPass.
We have seen several high profile attacks in schools and universities, including the infamous Power Schools Hack that exposed the information of students and teachers, including names, birth dates and contact data, with almost 62 million students who are believed to be affected.
Criminals like to attack schools and universities to steal children’s personal information. With the data they steal, computer pirates can obtain loans or credit cards using personal information in identity theft attacks and fraudulent applications, especially because children do not have a credit history.
If you need help to choose a safe password, there are some easy things you can do to make your own safer (or take a look at our complete guide here!).
Make sure your passwords are more than 12 characters, with a combination of tiny and capital letters, as well as some special characters.
A great example of a safe password would be a phrase of your favorite television program, with some changed lyrics for numbers, such as; ‘Streets; forward6s & am! ‘ Alternatively, see some of the best password generators to help with the task.
