Twitter Trouble: It Could Have Been Worse - The Adminstrator's Password Could Have Been "Password"

"Weak Password Brings 'Happiness' to Twitter Hacker"
Wired (January 6, 2009)

"An 18-year-old hacker with a history of celebrity pranks has admitted to Monday's hijacking of multiple high-profile Twitter accounts, including President-Elect Barack Obama's, and the official feed for Fox News.

"The hacker, who goes by the handle GMZ, told Threat Level on Tuesday he gained entry to Twitter's administrative control panel by pointing an automated password-guesser at a popular user's account. The user turned out to be a member of Twitter's support staff, who'd chosen the weak password 'happiness.'..."

It could have been worse. At least the hacker needed to throw a dictionary at Twitter's security.

One common thread in 'how not to get hacked' guides is this advice: don't ever use a word that might show up in a dictionary. (Turns out, the most commonly used password - in 2007, at least - was "password.")

So, "password" would be a really bad choice as a password. On the other hand, the word "password," a few numbers that are not sequential, plus someone else's given name, might be an it-could-be-worse password.

I'm no expert, BTW, so if you're concerned, learn from someone who is.

More:

"10 Most Common Passwords"
PC Magazine (April 18, 2007)

"If you recognize yours, you may as well hand over your wallet or purse to the first person you see on the street...."