Re: Risk of issuing 'default' password for my students

From: Alaa Abdelhalim [MSFT] (alaa_at_online.microsoft.com)
Date: 07/31/03 

Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2003 19:23:21 -0700

The answer to your teachers should be resounding "No".
You already have a good system going with these random initial passwords.
What they're proposing is extremely dangerous because not only would
students be able to use accounts not yet claimed by their owners but also
intruders/hackers would gain access to your system and wreak havoc inside
your network. I've personally seen this happen at some schools where the
"default password scheme" leaks out to non-students. 

-- 
Alaa Abdelhalim [MSFT]
-----
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"Marlon Brown" <marlon_brown@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:eFTvOQiVDHA.1912@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
> I have about 3,000 student accounts in my organization.
>
> This is the question:
> Currently I follow the best practices and I issue new accounts with random
> passwords. From there students must change passwords at first logon. When
> accounts are created they are distributed in a word document with student
> username and password to the respective teacher who distributes accounts
to
> students.
>
> I have a proposal coming from those teachers:
> Just issue a "default" password to eliminate the need for that list of
> random passwords.
>
> I would like your opinion to help me balance this:
> In addition to the risk of having students using someone else account
(since
> now the default password is a known standard) what type of implication
that
> standard password could bring to the organization ? Currently our students
> don't have e-mail, just access to web browser and folders.
> Is a default password an acceptable thing in my situation ?
>
>
>
>

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