The FBI’s Most Wanted Cybercriminal’s Password? His Cat Chewy

The FBI’s Most Wanted Cybercriminal’s Password? His Cat Chewy

Back in 2012, the FBI nabbed Jeremy Hammond, the most wanted cybercriminal in the country, at his home in Chicago. And until now no one had any idea how the feds actually managed to decrypt the hard drive they found there. Turns out it’s pretty easy to break into a hacker’s computer when your password is the name of your pet cat Chewy.

In Hammonds defence, the password was technically “Chewy 123”, although plopping those numbers on the end is still one of the biggest rookie mistakes you can make. It’s surprising coming from the guy who managed to hack into security think tank Stratfor’s own website.

The lesson here, boys and girls? Encrypting your hard drive doesn’t do much good when the key is on your cat’s bowl. And don’t use any of these. [ARS Technica via Digg]


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

It’s the most popular NBN speed in Australia for a reason. Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Gizmodo, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.