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Syria's President Bashar al-Assad attending a prayer service marking the birth of Islam's Prophet Mohammed at a mosque in Damascus on Feb. 5, 2012.
After hundreds of emails from the office of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were leaked on Monday, a report revealed that several of Assad's aides and advisers used the password "12345."
According to Barak Ravid of the Israeli media outlet Haaretz, hackers affiliated with the Anonymous collective attacked the mail server of the Syrian Ministry of Presidential Affairs on Sunday night. During that attack they managed to compromise about 78 email inboxes, including those belonging to the Minister of Presidential Affairs Mansour Fadlallah Azzam and Assad's media adviser, Bouthaina Shaaban.
The leaked emails — portions of which were reprinted by Haaretz — included documents preparing Assad for an interview with ABC News' Barbara Walters.
(Though hackers employ many tricks, having a strong password is often a good defense. You may not be a target of Anonymous, but it never hurts to know some tips on proper password practices.)
Related stories:
- HTC security flaw lets malicious apps steal Wi-Fi passwords
- How to properly celebrate Change Your Password Day
- Report: 'iMessage bug not a bug, says Apple'
Want more tech news, silly puns, or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+.
Leave a Comment:
maybe they should change it to password....
Thats the exact same password on my luggage!
That Syrian guy is such a Spaceball. I'm guessing he stole the password from the Druidians from the planet Druidia. Or maybe he got it from President Skroob.
LOL, that's what I was going to say. May the Schwartz be with you.
Heheh love spaceballs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6iW-8xPw3k
next they will try 56789
Anonymous is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why don't they change it to "Anonymous"......
Crosby, I hope they steal your credit card info like they do as their regular business you moron
@waveriderj-755035
You are an idiot. This is just like any tools, a gun can be use to kill or save someone, it can be use by good people and by bad people. The same thing with hacking or anything else.
If you want to know, China government hack more information than any public organization in the world, they stole more money than you can imagine and you or ours government can't do a thing. The same is with ours government or any developed countries. The one with the most power commit more crime or illegal work than you can count and I don't see you complaint about it.
They have already changed the password to !@#$%
(In Syrian) Crack that infidel!
Cuong, easy with the "idiot" remarks. With the spelling and grammar mistakes in your post you should not throw stones. I can almost hear the Chinese hacker tone in your "voice".
12345? That's the kind of password and idiot would put on his luggage!
Kudos to all above who made Spaceballs references!
Sad, just sad. Hey! Wasn't that Sarah Palin's password?
That being said, why doesn't MSN allow us to comment on any of the jobs reports?
We went through an office full of computers and found ou password was the answer to their logon 60% of the time. The simple way to get to a strong password is to use both upper and lower case letters and at least a couple of numbers and change it frequently. On the web you can find sites that will tell you how.
"My password is password? That's the greatest password ever!"
How about ***** or ••••• ? Those look pretty secure.
Quick. Somebody give me their debit card numbers!
+1 for Spaceballs... 1st thing I thought of.
Holy sh!t you just can't make this crap up...LMAO !!!
@MBinCoeur
When you speak 3 different languages like and English being the third, let's tell me that again.
Ignorant people who can't even know about reality.
@Crosby - Anonymous is NOT awesome. They are criminals!
....as are their targets.
Cuong, let's try this again. You called wave an idiot for expressing his opinion. Anonymous makes money by doing exactly what he said they do. You supporting them or any other group (including governments of any country) doesn't change that fact.
Dave you intuitively beat us all to the very same punchline first lol
There is no match for natural stupidity... :D
I am also among those who instantly thought of the Spaceballs quote. Everyone else who did is awesome :)
I think Mel Brooks should have been cloned many years ago. He is someone who i will mourn when he is gone.
waveriderj-755035, CuongDNguyen, first rule:
You're each suspended for a day for violating #1 of the Code of Honor.
waveriderj-755035 banned, multiple of waveriderj, also banned. Don't register multiple accounts, folks.
Morons. They got what they deserved.
Maybe they cannot count any higher. Give them some credit they tried. YUFR
and they wonder why they cant run a country. LMFAO!!
They just hacked Obama's and it was..................... change
best comment ever!
I hear they're using 54321 now.
Oh yes, all secure now!
LOl LOL !!! now that's frickin funny...I don't care if you do wear your pj's on your head...
that's the kind of combination an idiot would put on his luggage!
Luggage locks are obsolete anyway, now that we have TSA (Transportation Stupidity Administration). If the suitcase is locked, they will break it open.
What a n00b..
Keep firing, @!$%#s!
Dark Helmet: All right, give to me.
Roland: The combination is (hesitates) one.
Dark Helmet: One.
Colonel Sandurz: One. (writes)
Roland: Two.
Dark Helmet: Two.
Colonel Sandurz: Two. (writes)
Roland: Three.
Dark Helmet: Three.
Colonel Sandurz: Three (writes)
Roland: Four.
Dark Helmet: Four.
Colonel Sandurz: Four. (writes)
Roland: (hesitates) Five.
Dark Helmet: Five.
Colonel Sandurz: Five. (writes)
Dark Helmet: So the combination is one, two, three, four, five. (lifts mask) That's the stupidest combination I've ever heard in my life. That's the kinda thing an idiot would have on his luggage.
...
President Skroob: Great. Now we can take every last breath of fresh air from Planet Druidia. What's the combination?
Colonel Sandurz: 1-2-3-4-5
President Skroob: 1-2-3-4-5?
Colonel Sandurz: Yes!
President Skroob: That's amazing. I've got the same combination on my luggage.
President Skroob: Prepare Spaceball 1 for immediate departure!
Dark Helmet: Yes, sir!
President Skroob: And change the combination on my luggage!
Clever! Spaz, Clever!
nice boobs
sorry about the STD's
From "Glee"
Panda Express: I need his password to get in his computer.
Sue: Figgen's an idiot.
Panda Express: Oh, okay. 12345. We're in.
Does anyone think this might be deliberate? After all, prep for an interview with Baba Wawah is usually highly classified.
good thing they dont have nuclear weapons.....the password to fire the missles will probably be "fire" or "launch".
Actually it ABCDE. Fire and launch are too obvious.
Nah. They used a secure password for the nukes with a digit in it. fire1
mohammed is a punk trouble maker and he was gay!
I bet they say the same about you.
You know, I bet they do! :)
Hey D-2832979, since you want attention, you got it. What makes him a trouble maker? How do you know he's gay?
How clever!
Who is John Galt?
Come on now, cut them some slack. They are just now learning how to use the Internet, you can't expect them to be technically security savvy yet.
This just in: Syrian security officials to be briefed on the use of door locks. One official said "we are very excited about this new level of security and are looking forward to implementing the new security measures as soon as possible."
"1,2,3,4,5? That's the sort of password an idoit would have on their luggage." With apologies to Mel Brooks, the line today would be "That's the sort of password an idoit would have on their email."
so funny! thats why they have childish brain..
The Syrian government does seem to favor more... "punitive" security measures.
They don't worry about keeping their files private. They just get ready to shoot anyone who cracks them.
Finally someone that knows the difference between hacking and cracking. I wish the media would start calling anonymous crackers which is what they truely are and not hackers which they aren't.
Okay, I'll bite. What's the difference?
Cracker- guessing a code or using a computer to run through possible passwords to get into a datasource (like an email box). Hacker- Using code to "break the lock" or bypass security.
Thank you. :)
These people are so inept that they'd lose a tug-off-war if they all pulled from the same side.
"One Alfa One One, Destruct" - JTK
I'll bet they thought only an idiot would try to use that password, very clever, they saw the movie too.
A more appropriate one is ID10T
sorry about your herpes
Asshat needs to go...
I'm pretty sure the CIA already had all these e-mails on file.
Here is a drawing I made of Mohamad:
<oO;]D
Here is a drawing I made of you:
oo===D O: <--------(D*ck Rider/Sucker)
Haha. You're such a fool.
Wave: that's awesome! ROFL!
I was positive it was going to be Biden.
biden only has trouble getting past 10 when he's wearing laces.