What do nuclear missiles and your Wi-Fi have in common? Apparently, not much, except maybe … a really bad password. Take a guess which of the following was actually once used as a real computer password at a U.S. nuclear missile site for years: A) Password123, B) LetMeIn C) 00000000, or D) GodMode4Launch.
The answer: C) 00000000. Yep. During the Cold War, U.S. nukes were protected by a password flimsier than a free yogurt lid. Eight zeroes. Because nothing says “nuclear deterrent” like the digital version of leaving your front door open with a sticky note that says, “Please don’t.”
Why? Because military leaders were afraid complicated codes would slow down a launch in a real emergency. The Permissive Action Links (PALs), which are supposed to prevent unauthorized missile launches, were set to all zeros from 1962 to 1977. So for over a decade, the keys to global annihilation could have been guessed by a toddler.
Which brings me to my point. Even the government’s best and brightest make silly mistakes with passwords. Don’t you do it! A password of at least 8 characters, which includes both caps and lower case letters, numbers and symbols is good. Better is 12 characters.
And remember, the days of using your spouse’s middle name are over.