{"id":26269,"date":"2023-01-10T21:10:41","date_gmt":"2023-01-10T21:10:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/01\/10\/1-in-5-government-passwords-were-cracked-by-interiors-own-hack\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T05:03:46","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T05:03:46","slug":"1-in-5-government-passwords-were-cracked-by-interiors-own-hack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/federal-oversight\/watchdogs\/2023\/01\/10\/1-in-5-government-passwords-were-cracked-by-interiors-own-hack\/","title":{"rendered":"1 in 5 government passwords were cracked by Interior\u2019s own hack"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Department of the Interior \u201chacked\u201d itself to test how easy it would be to crack employee passwords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was easier than it should\u2019ve been, according to Jan. 3 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.doioig.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/2021-migration\/Final%20Inspection%20Report_DOI%20Password_Public.pdf?emci=66664715-fd90-ed11-9d7b-00224832e811&#038;emdi=7f680e01-0491-ed11-9d7b-00224832e811&#038;ceid=90116\" target=\"_blank\">report<\/a> from its Office of Inspector General. In 90 minutes and with less than $15,000, the OIG\u2019s system obtained clear-text passwords for 16% of user accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Using open-source software and a custom list of words made using dictionaries from multiple languages, U.S. government terminology, pop culture references and publicly available password lists from past breaches, by the end of the test the department was able to crack 21% of active user passwords, including 288 accounts with elevated privileges and 362 accounts of senior employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the report, the most-reused password at the department was \u201cPassword-1234\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The agency inspected its own password management and enforcement controls to determine whether they were strong enough to prevent a malicious cyberattack. In past projects, the department had been able to crack 20-40% of its captured passwords, so it followed up with a test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It found serious deficiencies in best practices for password security, on top of other weaknesses that contradict current cybersecurity guidance handed down by the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Password security is the most elemental building block of cybersecurity, but it has been reported to fell entire systems. The Interior\u2019s OIG noted the ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline \u2014 which \u201deffectively [shut] down half of the country\u2019s fuel supply chain,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/forbestechcouncil\/2021\/09\/14\/one-stolen-password-took-down-the-colonial-pipeline---is-your-business-next\/?sh=284e9eb05f56\" target=\"_blank\">Forbes reported <\/a>\u2014 came down to one stolen password.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe found that the Department\u2019s computer system authentication mechanisms and account management practices exhibited weaknesses similar to those that were reportedly exploited in the Colonial Pipeline attack,\u201d the OIG report said. \u201cSpecifically, Department employees used passwords found on breached password lists available on the internet, the Department used single-factor authentication, and inactive accounts were not disabled.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"3000\" height=\"2012\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635894045794821541-fed-department-of-interior-buildingjpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-30460\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635894045794821541-fed-department-of-interior-buildingjpg.jpg 3000w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635894045794821541-fed-department-of-interior-buildingjpg.jpg?resize=300,201 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635894045794821541-fed-department-of-interior-buildingjpg.jpg?resize=768,515 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635894045794821541-fed-department-of-interior-buildingjpg.jpg?resize=1024,687 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635894045794821541-fed-department-of-interior-buildingjpg.jpg?resize=1536,1030 1536w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635894045794821541-fed-department-of-interior-buildingjpg.jpg?resize=2048,1374 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 3000px) 100vw, 3000px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Department of the Interior \u201chacked\u201d itself to test how easy it would be to crack employee passwords. (Alex Wong\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The report said there was a high probability that the agency\u2019s mission operations could be \u201csignificantly affected\u201d if it was similarly attacked, though <a href=\"https:\/\/www.federaltimes.com\/it-networks\/2022\/12\/30\/data-breaches-led-by-usps-opm-cost-governments-26-billion\/\" target=\"_blank\">such a breach <\/a>would likely not be as devastating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The department declined to provide further comment to Federal Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The investigation revealed part of the risk came from outdated and ineffective password complexity requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Easily guessable login keys like \u201cChangeme$12345\u201d, \u201cPolar_bear65\u2033 and \u201cNationalparks2014!\u201d feebly guarded user accounts. In another example, 48 employees from several Interior offices selected \u201cWinter2021!!\u201d as their passwords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nearly 5% of all active user account passcodes were based on the word \u201cpassword\u201d, according to the report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Passwords must be changed every 60 days as a common security measure, but users may have pacified the requirement by selecting weak passwords that were easily remembered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Had more impenetrable controls been in place, the staged hack could\u2019ve proved much harder, the report found. For example, a \u201cbrute force\u201d attack against a password hash \u2014 the secure, unintelligible format stored by Microsoft Active Directory \u2014 that meets the department\u2019s minimum requirements would take at least 136 years with a commercial off-the-shelf \u201chash-cracking system,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAny password that exceeds these password complexity rules could take a millennium or more to crack,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The department\u2019s current requirements seemed to encourage complex passwords with a mix of special symbols and character limits, but in reality users relied on single dictionary words, patterns or slightly modified existing passwords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another issue was the department\u2019s failure to clean out active accounts unused for more than 45 days, per its own policy. It instead \u201cleft implementation and enforcement of this policy to the bureaus and offices,\u201d the report read. The test cracked 23% of these accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Inconsistent use of multifactor authentication was another weak spot for the department, the report said. Despite 18 years of requirements, the department did not have multifactor authentication on 89% of its high-value assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An executive order issued in May 2021 mandated the widespread implementation of multifactor authentication by November of that year. Since then, the extra security step has become mandatory on all federal systems where possible; exceptions can be made through the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The department said in its response to the report that \u201ca vast majority of all authentications occurring on DOI systems are multi-factor based.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among other proposed solutions, the department said in the report it has written new password complexity and length policies, which it aims to implement in May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Still, cyberattacks will remain a threat even with the help of new technologies if there isn\u2019t a workforce to use them, according to the interagency Federal Cyber Workforce Management and Coordinating Working Group. For years the government at large has struggled to compete for tech talent needed to modernize and secure its systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As one way of beefing up cybersecurity talent, the Interior and Defense departments are collaborating with the group to create cyber career interest quizzes that match possible candidates to federal job openings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Find out if you&#8217;re using the most common password at the department.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":74784,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":40,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[34,106,31,15,33,9,69,40],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3269],"class_list":["post-26269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-daily-brief","category-home","category-management","category-newsletters","category-federal-oversight","category-pay-benefits","category-watchdogs"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"UHLBWC45BRG2FAZMUPUBN3OT5I","arc_canonical_url":"\/federal-oversight\/watchdogs\/2023\/01\/10\/1-in-5-government-passwords-were-cracked-by-interiors-own-hack\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>1 in 5 government passwords were cracked by Interior\u2019s own hack - Federal Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Find out if you&#039;re using the most common password at the department.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"1 in 5 government passwords were cracked by Interior\u2019s own hack\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Find out if you&#039;re using the most common password at the department.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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