Breaking into Twitter accounts with a dictionary password attack

Last week we discussed how a hacker was able to break into the Twitter accounts of celebrities. It turned out that a Twitter employee, who had administrative access to members’ accounts, had her account broken into because she chose a dictionary word for her own password.

What password had she chosen? “Happiness”.

We’ve discussed before that it’s not a good idea at all to use a dictionary word for any password you have.

Below you’ll find a video I made last night, making the serious point in a lighthearted way. :)

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Graham Cluley •   @gcluley

Graham Cluley is an award-winning keynote speaker who has given presentations around the world about cybersecurity, hackers, and online privacy. A veteran of the computer security industry since the early 1990s, he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows, makes regular media appearances, and is the co-host of the popular "Smashing Security" podcast. Follow him on Twitter, Mastodon, Threads, Bluesky, or drop him an email.