It was all an accident, as the world found out the football tournament's secure Wi-Fi password. Oh but what a hilarious accident it was!
The state of the art security system deployed at the ongoing FIFA World Cup in Brazil is still no match to human error. In a hilarious gaffe, top officials accidentally leaked the tournament's Wi-Fi network's security password.
It all happened in a photo-op as the Israel-based security firm RISCO, who's tasked with providing security at football venues where the World Cup's currently underway in Brazil, invited a reporter to survey the premises (and shoot photos!) for a story in a local Brazilian newspaper. It caught Luiz Cravo Dorea (pictured in the opening image above), Head of Brazilian Police's International Co-operation initiative, surveying live streaming feeds from various security cameras all over the stadium (and around the venues).
But behind him on the screen, if you look closely, are revealed the network's Wi-Fi credentials: SSID – WORLDCUP and Key – b5a2112014 (which is nothing but Brazil2014 written in l33tsp34k). Uh oh! Big mistake, Officer.
Since then, that unfortunate photo has been tweeted a few thousand times on Twitter.
While no untoward incidents were reported since the accidental password leak of the World Cup's secured network, however, there was the possibility of cybercriminals getting through the door and compromising the system, and maybe even launching attacks to disrupt the network further — if they were within range of the wireless network and there were no MAC address restrictions.
Can't be too careful while everyone's having fun in Sambaland, can we? We can only hope that the password has been changed by now.
via Geek.com
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Jayesh Shinde
Executive Editor at Digit. Technology journalist since Jan 2008, with stints at Indiatimes.com and PCWorld.in. Enthusiastic dad, reluctant traveler, weekend gamer, LOTR nerd, pseudo bon vivant. View Full Profile
