Stolen Passwords: What do they say about professionalism?
It’s old news by now that nearly 6.5 million LinkedIn passwords were likely stolen last week. The hacker posted the passwords online, unattached to usernames (how kind!), to boast this feat. Security firm Rapid7 released the following as part of an infographic summarizing the hack:
This made me think: Would a potential employer’s opinion of a candidate be reshaped or influenced if they knew the person’s password?
Definitely yes is the answer. People take any tidbit they learn about others and file it away. The fourth most popular hacked password, god, for instance, might resonate well on a basic level with certain religious folks and negatively with atheists. The capitalization might rub some the wrong way, as might the sheer simplicity stupidity of such an easily-cracked password. Some might be neutral, as they, too, might have easy passwords to everything. Regardless, some assumptions about you (surface level or character-deep), and consequently your abilities as an employee, are certainly made.
From this list, I wouldn’t want someone working for me whose password I knew to be killer or 12345. I suppose these people are all around, and a bit of ignorance is fine; what people do on the back end of their individual profiles on internet systems is of no direct concern to me. But, should you choose one of these really weak passwords and get hacked, let’s just hope your employer or hopeful future company doesn’t find out.
Very cool business card format.
Thing that made me smile.
There's NO WAY that even more smelly planes are a good idea.
Let’s hope that this does not become a trend. Better food and more legroom would be ok though!
Do you have thoughts about ice cream?
Even if you don’t please take this 4 minute or less survey created by my friend Adam, who needs lots of people to take this thing for a class. I promise you’ll find it entertaining and confusing and wonder what it will show in the end. Here was my favorite question:
Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises
Through a (dumb) train of thought, I thought it’d be funny to type various words/phrases into Google Maps (ie home, holy grail, your mom) and see where they are. “You” was funny, because I discovered Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, Inc. It’s painfully weird and cute creepy, but props for catching my eye.
There are more than 80 restaurants owned by LEYE, many of which have subpar reviews, but there must be something to them because they’ve been around since Richard Melman came up with the conglomerate’s (continually growing) idea in 1970. LEYE also provides consulting, which I hope is less gaudy and more professional than their consulting website.
Anyway Richard, I’ll try to visit one of your restaurants some time and see this glorious Lettuce empire for myself. You can thank Google Maps.
Posts to keep you entertained, thinking, sharing, and discussing. I blog across subject areas because there's a lot of interesting stuff out there; why limit our conversation?
