Categories
General Tech

On the Importance of Decent Passwords

Nothing really new here, but I thought this was interesting and maybe someone will learn from this. If you think “P@$$w0rd” is a good password, you should definitely learn from this (and change your password).

There’s a botnet that’s been particularly active recently trying to bruteforce passwords. As in, many, many times more active than the usual bruteforce activity I see on my servers. I don’t know if it’s the same botnet that Synology has been warning about lately, but either way, it’s a global botnet that is trying a lot of passwords. I’ve been watching it try to crack into my mail server for a few days now. Good practices include:

  1. Using strong passwords for anything that faces the Internet
  2. Using a bruteforce detection system like CSF/LFD or fail2ban to block IPs that will otherwise hammer your server all day (if you run a server)

Below is a list of about 500 passwords this botnet tried over the course of a few hours today. These attempts came from all over the world: China, Russia, Thailand, the United States, South Korea, Great Britain, Sweden, and Canada, to name a few (which is why blocking countries doesn’t help much – it’s easy to bypass those blocks with a VPN or a botnet).

None of these is anything close to any of my actual passwords (“admin”? really!?), but if you’ve ever set up a service and created a quick password resembling any of those below that you promise you’ll change later, don’t do that.

Notice that at quick glance, no password was attempted more than twice. That tells me there’s a control server somewhere telling the botnet what to do and keeping track of the results of the attempts. Otherwise I’d expect to see more duplicates if it was just hundreds of machines running a brute force script with the same internal logic.

Just keep in mind that while you’re at work, sleeping, or out having fun, there are machines all over the world quietly trying to guess your passwords, 24 hours a day. So keep them strong. I’ve worked in web development and system administration for decades, and I still know people who choose passwords like this.

Oh, and 12345? I’ve got the same combination on my luggage!

!!Gre
!!Gre0
!!Gre10
!!Gre2000
!!Gre2002
!!Gre2002
!!Gre2003
!!Gre2005
!!Gre2005
!!Gre2006
!!Gre2011
!!Gre2013
!!Gre2015
!!Gre2016
!!Gre4
!!greg
!!greg
!!Greg1
!!Greg10
!!Greg123456
!!Greg2006
!!Greg2007
!!Greg2011
!!Greg2017
!!Greg2020
!!Greg4
!!greghausman
!!Greghausman11
!!Greghausman2
!!Greghausman2004
!!Greghausman2011
!!Greghausman2013
!!Greghausman2018
!!Greghausman2020
!!hausman
!!Hausman1234
!!Hausman2
!!Hausman2001
!!Hausman2003
!!Hausman2004
!!Hausman2006
!!Hausman2008
!!Hausman2008
!!Hausman2012
!!Hausman2013
!!Hausman2013
!!Hausman2014
!!Hausman2015
!!Hausman2015
!!Hausman2016
!!Hausman2018
!!Hausman2021
!!Hausman2021
!!Hausman4
!!Hausman6
!!Hausman9
!!Hausmanabc123
!!Reg1
!!Reg10
!!Reg2003
!!Reg2010
!!Reg2011
!!Reg2011
!!Reg2014
!!Reg2014
!!Reg2016
!!Reg2020
!!Reg4
!!Reg5
!Gre11
!Gre12
!Gre123123
!Gre2
!Gre2000
!Gre2003
!Gre2004
!Gre2009
!Gre2015
!Gre5
!Gre8
!Greabc123
!greg
!Greg0
!Greg1
!Greg1234
!Greg123456
!Greg2008
!Greg2011
!Greg2012
!Greg3
!Greg4
!Greg7
!Greg9
!Greghausman2
!Greghausman2003
!Greghausman2004
!Greghausman2007
!Greghausman2007
!Greghausman2013
!Greghausman5
!Greghausman5
!Greghausmanabc
!Hausman1
!Hausman10
!Hausman123456
!Hausman2001
!Hausman2002
!Hausman2004
!Hausman2004
!Hausman2005
!Hausman2006
!Hausman2007
!Hausman2017
!Hausman2017
!Hausman2020
!Hausman2021
!Hausmanabc123
!reg
!Reg2002
!Reg2003
!Reg2006
!Reg2009
!Reg2010
!Reg2016
!Reg3
!Reg8
111111
123123
123321
123321
1234
12345
12345
123456
1234567
12345678
123456789
1234567890
12qwaszx
12qwaszx
1q2w3e
1q2w3e
1q2w3e4r
1q2w3e4r5t
1qaz2wsx
1qaz2wsx
3laneads
54321
654321
666666
7654321
7777777
8eppMb0vchJN
987654321
Aa11111111
abc123
abc123
Abc123
abcd1234
Abcd1234
accounts
accounts
Accounts
accounts123
Accounts123
admin
admin
Admin
admin1
Admin1
admin123
Admin123
Admin123
admin1234
Admin1234
administrator
Administrator
Administrator
Aiiupmn123
Anabelle
anabelle
andreas
Andreas
Ar87654
books1
Books1
bryan1
Bryan1
Cannon01
Capreit
capreit
capreit
Celeste1
changeme
changeme
Changeme
cheeseburger
cheeseburger
Cheeseburger
choice1
Choice1
chris
Chris
contact
Contact
council12345678901
Council12345678901
d0l0m1te
d0l0m1te
D0l0m1te
D0l0m1te
daniel
daniel
Daniel
Daniel
dav1ds
Dav1ds
david
David
dayton21
Dayton21
dlcf1987
Dlcf1987
farrell1
Farrell1
gesencro1234
Gesencro1234
Global123
Gr2001
Gre
gre1
Gre11
Gre123123
Gre123123
gre1234
Gre2001
Gre2002
gre2005
gre2005
gre2006
Gre2011
gre2014
gre2018
gre2020
gre2020
gre2021
Greabc
Greg1
Greg10
Greg10
Greg11
greg12
greg123
Greg123123
Greg12345
Greg123456
Greg123456
Greg2
Greg2003
greg2006
Greg2006
Greg2007
greg2007
greg2008
greg2011
Greg2012
Greg2013
Greg2017
Greg2017
greg2021
Greg4
greg4
greg5
greg7
greg7
gregabc
gregabc
Gregh2002
Gregh2004
Gregha2000
Gregha2003
Greghau2003
Greghau2004
Greghaus2002
Greghausm2004
Greghausma2000
Greghausma2002
Greghausman.com
Greghausman0
greghausman1
greghausman12
greghausman12
greghausman123
greghausman123
Greghausman1234
greghausman2000
greghausman2000
Greghausman2001
Greghausman2003
Greghausman2006
greghausman2007
Greghausman2010
greghausman2013
Greghausman2014
Greghausman2014
greghausman2014
Greghausman2015
Greghausman2016
Greghausman2020
greghausman4
Greghausman5
Greghausman8
habo1234
Habo1234
Hausman0
hausman0
hausman0
hausman10
hausman123123
Hausman123456
Hausman2
hausman2000
Hausman2000
Hausman2000
hausman2005
hausman2005
hausman2015
hausman2020
hausman5
hausmanabc123
Hausmanabc123
Hausmanabc123
Hcisd1
Hotel
India123
india123
info
Info
info01
Info01
info1
Info1
Info1
info123
Info123
info1234
Info1234
info12345
Info12345
info2016
Info2016
Info2016
Info2019
info2019
kennedy
Kennedy
leagus34
Leagus34
letmein
Letmein
Letmein1
Letmein1
letmein1
Letmein123
Letmein123
letmein123
makespace
Makespace
Manager123
Manager123
martin
martin
Martin
master123
Master123
Master123
mendle1
Mendle1
michael
Michael
moldbase
Moldbase
Money3030
Money3030
money3030
monroe
Monroe
monster1
Monster1
national123
National123
noreply
Noreply
nova123
Nova123
office
office
Office
Office
office1
Office1
Office1
OutThere1
P@$$w0rd
P@$$w0rd
P@ssw0rd
p@ssw0rd
p1nba11
P1nba11
Pa$$w0rd
Pa$$w0rd
Pass123
pass123
Passw0rd
passw0rd
Passw0rd!
Passw0rd1
Passw0rd1
password
Password
PASSWORD
Password01
password01
Password1
password1
password1123
password1123
Password1123
Password1123
Password123
password123
Password123!
Password1234
password1234
Password12345
password12345
passwort
Passwort
peanut1
Peanut1
postmaster
Postmaster
PP@ssw0rd@ssw0rd
qwerty
Qwerty
qwerty123
Qwerty123
ralle
Ralle
Reg
reg0
reg10
reg10
reg12
reg12
Reg123456
Reg2
Reg2000
Reg2001
reg2001
Reg2002
reg2002
Reg2003
Reg2004
Reg2007
reg2012
reg2015
reg2020
Reg7
regabc
regabc123
regabc123
Regabc123
richard
richard
Richard
sales
Sales
sales123
Sales123
sales1234
Sales1234
sandra
Sandra
service
Service
Sms123456
Spoon01
stanley
Stanley
stefan
Stefan
steve
Steve
support
Support
support123
Support123
test
Test
test123
Test123
test1234
Test1234
thomas
Thomas
Tie123456
Tie123456
travel1
Travel1
united
united
United
User
User
Vastwaves123
vastwaves123
videoplus
Videoplus
Videoplus
volvo
Volvo
webmaster
Webmaster
webmaster1
Webmaster1
welcome
welcome
Welcome
Welcome
Welcome1
Welcome1
welcome1
Welcome123
welcome123
Welcome2
Welcome2

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *