Security tip: Before being interviewed on TV, wipe passwords off whiteboard

Filed Under: Featured, Privacy

The following screenshot is from a broadcast on TVP (Polish television).

Spot anything interesting?

Still from Polish TV show. Click for larger version

No?

Let's take a closer look..

Closeup of screenshot, showing password

If you haven't already guessed, Hasło is the Polish for "Password".

As we have explained before, if a TV crew is visting your office it may be sensible to remove any passwords which could appear in the background.

In fact, maybe it makes sense not to have these passwords on show regardless of whether someone is pointing a video camera around the place or not.

Just saying..

Hat-tip: @mikko.

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12 Responses to Security tip: Before being interviewed on TV, wipe passwords off whiteboard

  1. Heyo says:

    If the passwords are changed with any regularity (ie it will be different by the time the news program airs) then there would be no compromise and no need to hide anything

  2. Doobie Brothers says:

    This person should have been talked to way before the film crew arrived. Huge no-no.

  3. Raider Dave says:

    Then password requirements should not be so strict so as to require writing them down in order to remember them. It kinda defeats the purpose...

  4. Darryl says:

    In the words of Homer Simpson "D'oh" who didn't go to the security briefing then

  5. Andy says:

    It is possible but unlikely that the password on the white board is written using a simple encryption technique that only authorised employees know.

  6. tmac says:

    Well it is encrypted in polish . . . Kurva!

  7. Dngr66 says:

    Hah. I even worry about neighbors looking at my whiteboard through binoculars sometimes.

  8. Ronnie says:

    HaHa. But what else do you write on your whiteboard, if not your passwords! Haha.

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About the author

Graham Cluley has worked in the computer security industry for more than 20 years, developing anti-virus software and doing quite a lot of talking about internet threats. He's won awards for his blogging, but is proudest of the text adventure games he wrote when he was still wearing short trousers. You can learn more about those (the games, not the trousers) at grahamcluley.com. Send Graham an email, subscribe to his updates on Facebook, follow him on Twitter and App.net, and circle him on Google Plus for regular updates.