NSA’s own website won’t accept passwords longer than 12 characters

Want a job at the NSA?

Be aware that they don’t like it if your password is longer than 12 characters:

Okay, so this is just the careers portal part of the NSA’s website. It doesn’t mean that everything at the NSA is protected by a password of 12 or less characters. But it’s not exactly the finest example to set for others, is it?

Sign up to our newsletter
Security news, advice, and tips.

I checked it out for myself, and had to raise an eyebrow at the following pop-up message that the NSA’s website displayed:

It’s good to see that the NSA are using HTTPS/SSL to protect our private information in transit. Oh, wait… hang on a minute…

As Martijn Grooten points out, this “may be a rare case in which there’s really no one but you and the site who sees your traffic.”

A cynic might suggest, of course, that all the NSA are doing is encouraging people to use shorter, weaker passwords for perfectly understandable reasons.

Hat-tip: @tdhopper

Found this article interesting? Follow Graham Cluley on Twitter or Mastodon to read more of the exclusive content we post.

Graham Cluley •   @gcluley

Graham Cluley is a veteran of the anti-virus industry having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent security analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of computer security, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter at @gcluley, on Mastodon at @[email protected], or drop him an email.