United Kingdom

4083 readers

241 users here now

General community for news/discussion in the UK.

Less serious posts should go in !casualuk@feddit.uk or !andfinally@feddit.uk
More serious politics should go in !uk_politics@feddit.uk.

Try not to spam the same link to multiple feddit.uk communities.
Pick the most appropriate, and put it there.

Posts should be related to UK-centric news, and should be either a link to a reputable source, or a text post on this community.

Opinion pieces are also allowed, provided they are not misleading/misrepresented/drivel, and have proper sources.

If you think "reputable news source" needs some definition, by all means start a meta thread.

Posts should be manually submitted, not by bot. Link titles should not be editorialised.

Disappointing comments will generally be left to fester in ratio, outright horrible comments will be removed.
Message the mods if you feel something really should be removed, or if a user seems to have a pattern of awful comments.

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

tom@feddit.uk

GreatAlbatross@feddit.uk

No more 12345: devices with weak passwords to be banned in UK (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 6 months ago by Emperor@feddit.uk to c/unitedkingdom@feddit.uk

23 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Tech that comes with weak passwords such as “admin” or “12345” will be banned in the UK under new laws dictating that all smart devices must meet minimum security standards.

Measures to protect consumers from hacking and cyber-attacks come into effect on Monday, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said.

It means manufacturers of phones, TVs and smart doorbells, among others, are now legally required to protect internet-connected devices against access by cybercriminals, with users prompted to change any common passwords.

Brands have to publish contact details so that bugs and issues can be reported, and must be transparent about timings of security updates.

It is hoped the new measures will help give customers confidence in buying and using products at a time when consumers and businesses have come under attack from hackers at a soaring rate.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Emperor@feddit.uk 6 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

One friend admitted his PIN was 0071.

Another is a rabid Everton fan and his PIN is 1878 - the year the club was founded, so he probably doesn't change it. Worse though is that he painted his yard fence blue and wrote 1, 8, 7 and 8 on his fenceposts - I don't know many people who'd paint their PIN a foot high somewhere visible to his neighbours. He came over once so I could help him put a route on his bike's satnav but it needed a password. I didn't ask, I just typed "efc1878" and got straight in. He admitted that was his password on pretty much everything. The lesson - don't get sentimental with cyber security.