The 'unacceptable' password 1400 Aussie government officials are using

Creating a strong password – it’s one of the first things you’re warned about when starting any sort of online account, but it seems all too many Australian government officials have missed the memo.

Many computer systems in Western Australia’s public service are now at risk from hackers, with an audit finding 26 per cent of its officials had a weak password.

Auditor General Caroline Spencer tabled her annual Information Systems Audit Report in parliament on Tuesday, which included an in-depth assessment of password use at 17 agencies.

In what is no doubt every computer hacker’s dream, 1464 people went for “password123″, while a further 813 used “password1”. Almost 200 individuals scrapped the number altogether and opted simply for “password”.

Information systems were vulnerable, she concluded, with weak passwords set for more than one quarter of the enabled network accounts.

In several instances, the accounts were used to access critical agency systems and information via remote access without any additional controls.

“After repeatedly raising password risks with agencies, it is unacceptable that people are still using password123 and abcd1234 to access critical agency systems and information,” Ms Spencer said.

“It is frustrating because my office has demonstrated to agencies over many years how weak passwords and poor system controls can be taken advantage of to access information systems without detection.”

Ms Spencer cited a 2017 Verizon report that linked 81 per cent of hacking-related breaches to stolen or weak passwords.