Passwords Policy

[Mar 3, 2005] As Mofei virus has shown we might have some problems with the passwords used on some servers, especially on non-production Windows (for example test) servers. Those servers are still the part of our infrastructure.

Can you please remind your staff that usage of extremely weak passwords like "password", " admin", "oracle", "basf1234", '111111', etc by administrators can be classified as negligence even if they are used on test/lab servers.

All password should generally consist of two independent parts connected with a delimiter, for example

stron-456

that garantee that password used are not in the any dictionary.

Those who completely lack imagination should probably use cubicle number of the recipient of password or thier own (for example W-2124) of nameplates of their cars but never easily guessable dictionary words or digit sequences that contain the same of sequential digits (like in "111111" or "123456"). We will modify our policies and procedures accordingly, but meanwhile some awareness about this problem might help us to avoid further infections.

Here is the list of passwords that was used by the worm that represents a good list of "extremely weak" passwords that administrators should absolutely avoid.

  • basf1234
  • basf00
  • basf12
  • security
  • super
  • oracle
  • secret
  • root
  • admin
  • password
  • passwd
  • pass
  • 88888888
  • 888888
  • 00000000
  • 000000
  • 11111111
  • 111111
  • 111
  • 54321
  • 654321
  • 12345678
  • 1234567
  • 123456
  • 12345
  • 1234
  • [May 01 2004] PCLinuxOnline

    Nameless writes:

    Passwords that should NEVER be used!

    Strong passwords are your first step in securing your systems. If a password can be easily guessed or compromised using a simple dictionary attack, your systems will be vulnerable to hackers, worms, Trojans, and viruses.

    Trojan, virus, and worm authors have had great success attacking systems with weak and/or default passwords. Take IRC/Flood Trojan for example. McAfee’s virus profile states that IRC/Flood has over 120 variants and has infected over 60,000 machines in the last 30 days. IRC/Flood succeeds by checking for 22 different different easy to guess admin passwords (variants vary). Unfortunately, there are a lot more where IRC/Flood came from, W32/Tzet.worm, W32/Random.worm, and W32.HLLW.Gaobot.gen are in the wild just to name three.

    Hackers also have no problem compromising systems with weak passwords. Programs like L0pthCrack for example make the process simple and efficient. Creating a password-cracking dictionary is not even a challenge. Type the words "Creating Password Cracking Dictionaries", without the quotes, in to your favorite search engine. A comprehensive dictionary can be downloaded or created from scratch in short order.

    Below is a list of commonly used weak passwords that should NEVER be used. If any of these passwords look hauntingly familiar and are being used, you need to change the password immediately.
     

    Alpha Weak Passwords
    A a, A.M.I, A52896nG93096a, aaa, aammii, abc, abcd, academia, academic, accept, access, ACCESS, account, accounting, action, adam, ADAMS, adfexc, adm, admin, ADMIN, Admin, admin2, administrator, Administrator, adminttd, ADMN, admn, adrian, adrianna, adtran, adult, Advance, ADVMAIL, aerobics, alfarome, ALFAROME, ALLIN1, ALLIN1MAIL, ALLINONE, aLLy, ALLy, alpha, AM, AMI, AMI!SW, AMI.KEY, AMI.KEZ, AMI?SW, AMI_SW, AMI~, AMIAMI, AMIDECOD, amipswd, AMIPSWD, AMISETUP, anicust, anon, anonymous, any@, ANYCOM, AP2SVP, aPAf, APL2PP, APPLSYS, APPS, AQDEMO, AQUSER, ARCHIVIST, Asante, ascend, Ascend, asdf, asdfgh, at4400, attack, AURORA$ORB$UNAUTHENTICATED, AURORA@ORB@UNAUTHENTICATED, autocad, AUTOLOG1, Award, award, AWARD?SW, AWARD_SW, awkward
    B BACKUP, BATCH, BATCH1, BATCH2, bbs, bciim, bciimpw, bcms, bcmspw, bcnas, bcnaspw, bell9, BIGO, bin, bintec, BIOS, BIOSPASS, biosstar, biostar, Biostar, BIOSTAR, BLAKE, blue, bluepw, boss, BRIDGE, browse, browsepw
    C c, cablecom, cable-docsis, cangetin, CAROLIAN, cascade, CATALOG, cc, CCC, ccrusr, CDEMO82, CDEMOCOR, CDEMORID, CDEMOUCB, central, CHANGE_ON_INSTALL, changeme, checkfs, checkfsys, checksys, CHEY_ARCHSVR, circ, cisco, Cisco router, CLARK, client, CLOTH, cmaker, CMSBATCH, CMSUSER, CNAS, COGNOS, Col2ogro2, comcomcom, COMPANY, Compaq, Compleri, computer, CONCAT, condo, CONDO, Congress, CONV, CPNUC, CPRM, cr0wmt 911, craft, craftpw, Crystal, CSPUSER, CTX_123, CTXDEMO, CTXSYS, cust, custpw, CVIEW
    D d.e.b.u.g, d8on, daemon, Daewuu, Database, databse, DATAMOVE, Daytec, DBSNMP, DCL, DDIC, death, debug, DECMAIL, DECNET, default, DEFAULT, Dell, DEMO, demo, DEMO1, DEMO8, DEMO8, demos, deskalt, deskman, desknorm, deskres, DESQUETOP, dhs3mt, dhs3pms, diag, diamond, DIGITAL, DISC, disttech, D-Link, dn_04rjc, dni, DS, DSA
    E EARLYWATCH, echo, EMP, enable, eng, engineer, enquiry, enquirypw, enter, ESSEX, EVENT, Ezsetup
    F fal, FAX, fax, FAXUSER, FAXWORKS, FIELD, field, FIELD.SUPPORT, FINANCE, FND, foobar, friend, ftp
    G g6PJ, games, ganteng, GATEWAY, GEN1, gen1, GEN2, gen2, glftpd, gnumpf, god, godblessyou, gonzo, gopher, GPLD, gropher, guessme, guest, GUEST, Guest, guest1, GUESTGUE, guestgue, GUESTGUEST
    H h6BB, hacker, halt, HARRIS, hax0r, HELGA-S, HELLO, hello, HELP, help, HELPDESK, HEWITT RAND, hewlpack, HLT, home, Home, HOST, HP, hp, HPDESK, HPLASER, HPOFFICE, HPOFFICE DATA, HPONLY, HPP187, HPP187 SYS, HPP189, HPP196, HPWORD PUB, hydrasna
    I I5rDv2b2JjA8Mm, ibm, IBM, ibmcel, ihavenopass, ILMI, inads, indspw, INFO, informix, INGRES, init, initpw, install, Internet, IntraStack, IntraSwitch, INTX3, INVALID, IPC, IS_$hostname, ITF3000, iwill
    J j09F, j256, j262, j322, j64, JDE, Jetform, JONES
    K kermit, kiddie, komprie, ksdjfg934t
    L l2, l3, laflaf, lantronix, LASER, LASERWRITER, last, lesarotl, letacla, letmein, LIBRARY, lineprin, LINK, lkw peter, lkwpeter, LKWPETER, Lkwpeter, llatsni, locate, locatepw, login, looker, LOTUS, love, lp, lpadm, lpadmin, lucenttech1, lucenttech2, lynx
    M MAIL, mail, MAILER, maint, maintain, maintpw, man, manager, Manager, MANAGER, MANAGER.SYS, Master, MASTER, masterkey, MBIU0, MBMANAGER, MBWATCH, mcp, MDSYS, me, merlin, mfd, MFG, MGR, MGR.SYS, MICRO, MILLER, mirc, mlusr, mMmM, MMO2, MODTEST, monitor, MOREAU, mountfs, mountfsys, mountsys, MPE, mtch, mtcl, MTYSYS, my_DEMARC, mypass, mypc
    N n/a, naadmin, NAMES, ncrm, NETBASE, NETCON, NETFRAME, NetICs, netlink, netman, NETMGR, NETNONPRIV, NETOP, netopia, NETPRIV, netrangr, netscreen, NETSERVER, NETWORK, NEWINGRES, NEWS, news, NeXT, NF, NFI, NICONEX, nms, nmspw, nobody, noway, NONPRIV, ntacdmax, nuucp
    O OCITEST, oem_temp,op, OP.OPERATOR, operator, OPERATOR, OPERVAX, oracle, ORDPLUGINS, ORDSYS, OUTLN, OutOfBox, owner
    P PAPER, pass, PASS, Pass, passwd, Passwd, PASSWORD, password, Password, pat, patrick, PBX, pc, PCUSER, PDP11, PDP8, PFCUser, PHANTOM, phoenix, piranha, pmd, PO, PO8, poll, Polrty, POST, Posterie, postmast, POSTMASTER, postmaster, POWERCARTUSER, powerdown, PRIMARY, prime, primenet, primeos, primos, primos_cs, PRINT, PRINTER, PRIV, private, prost, PSEAdmin, public, PUBSUB, pw, pwd, pwp
    Q q, Q54arwms, QDI, qpgmr, qsecofr, qserv, qsrvbas, qsvr, qsysopr, quser, qwer
    R raidzone, rcust, rcustpw, RE, read, readonly, readwrite, REGO, REMOTE, replicator, REPORT, RJE, rje, RM, RMAIL, rmnetlm, RMUser1, ro, ROBELLE, ROOT, root, Root, ROOT500, ROUTER, router, RSBCMON, RSX, rw, rwa, rwmaint
    S sa, SABRE, SAMPLE, san fran 8, SAP*, satan, SCOTT, script, scriptkiddie, SECDEMO, secoff, secofr, secret, secure, security, SECURITY, SER, sertafu, server, service, SERVICE, servlet, SETUP, setup, sex, shutdown, signa, SKY_FOX, sldkj754, smile, snake, SnuFG5, software, sp99dd, Spacve, spcl, speedxess, SPOOLMAN, spooml, star, STEEL, STUDENT, su, Super, super, SUPERVISOR, support, SUPPORT, supportpw, switch, SWITCHES_SW, Sxyz, SY_MB, sybase, sync, synnet, SYS, sys, sysadm, SYSADM, sysadmin, sysbin, SYSDBA, SYSLIB, syslib, SYSMAINT, SYSMAN, Sysop, system, SYSTEM, system_admin, SYSTEST, SYSTEST_CLIG, syxz, SZYX
    T t0ch20x, t0ch88, TCH, teacher, tech, technolgi, tele, TELEDEMO, TELESUP, temp, temp1, TEST, test, testing, teX1, tiara, TIGER, tini, Tiny, tlah, topicalt, topicnorm, topicres, Toshiba, toshy99, tour, TRACE, TRACESRV, trancell, trouble, TSDEV, TSEUG, TSUSER, TTPTHA, tutor, TzqF
    U uClinux, UETP, umountfs, umountfsys, umountsys, unix, User, user, USER, USER_TEMPLATE, USER0, USER1, USER2, USER3, USER4, USER5, USER6, USER7, USER8, USER9, USERP, uucp, uucpadm, uwontguessme
    V VAX, VESOFT, Vextrex, VMS, VNC, VRR1
    W WANGTEK, web, WebAdmin, WebBoard, webdb, weblogic, webmaster, win, WINDOWS_PASSTHRU, WINSABRE, winterm, wodj, WOOD, WORD, WP, wradmin, write, www
    X xljlbj, XLSERVER, xo11nE, xp, xxx, xxxx, xxxxx, xxxxxx, xxxxxxx, xxxxxxxx, xxxxxxxxx, xyzall
    Y YES, youwontguessme, yxcv
    Z zbaaaca, Zenith, zeosx, zxcv
    Numeric 0, 1, 1.1, 2, 5, 7, 12, 30, 110, 111, 123, 1111, 1234, 2002, 2003, 2222, 2600, 8429, 12345, 54321, 111111, 121212, 123123, 123456, 166816, 256256, 654321, 1234567, 1322222, 7061992, 11111111, 12345678, 19920706, 22222222, 88888888, 123456789, 1. 1, 1234qwer, 123abc, 123asd, 123qwe, 1RRWTTOOI, 240653C9467E45, 24Banc81, 3098z, 3ep5w2u, 4Dgifts, 4getme2, 4tas, 57gbzb
    Other !@#$, !@#$%, !@#$%^, !@#$%^&, !@#$%^&*, !root, $ALOC$, $secure$, $system, %username%12, %username%123, %username%1234, (none), ?award, }

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    Password Security from Red Hat
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