So apparently, 4chan is a person!

[Queen Michael]

Right here, [http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/4chan-icloud-expert-from-cnn-thinks-4chan-is-a-person-and-paword-is-a-good-password-9707845.html] you can read about how a so-called "technology analyst" thought that 4chan is the name of a person. In an additional act of helpfulness, he also explained that in order to keep our safety high, we should use "pa$$word" as our password.

Not joking. This guy was hired by the actual CNN and couldn't be bothered to do a single Google search on an imageboard he really, really should have known about in advance.

I'm looking forward to when they'll tell us about that new Islamist extremist guy, Al Quaida.

But once their report on Mr. Quaida's goings-on is over, I think we should take it upon ourselves to always, and without exception, contact any news source that makes this kind of mistake and call them on it. I recommend going to CNN's Facebook page.

 

[Velventian]

I wonder if 4chan heard that and started going all spartacus

"i am 4chan", "no i am 4chan"...etc.

 

[Lilani]

Oh mainstream news, you so silly. Now go play in the sandbox with FOX and NBC while the big kids get their information elsewhere.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Eh, corporations are people, why not internet sites?

...

Actually, I can think of a reason why someone might suggest pa$$word as a good password.

 

[Velventian]

Eh, corporations are people, why not internet sites?

...

Actually, I can think of a reason why someone might suggest pa$$word as a good password.

One of our admins at work once told me that odd signs like $ aren´t all that necessary for a strong password. It mostly comes down to just use more then 1 typeset (number/letters) and length. So 30 letters/number gibberish with no context or order whatsoever. A ***** to remember sure but also pretty damn hard to hack.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Eh, corporations are people, why not internet sites?

...

Actually, I can think of a reason why someone might suggest pa$$word as a good password.

One of our admins at work once told me that odd signs like $ aren´t all that necessary for a strong password. It mostly comes down to just use more then 1 typeset (number/letters) and length. So 30 letters/number gibberish with no context or order whatsoever. A ***** to remember sure but also pretty damn hard to hack.

Yeah, increasing the number of combinations is the way to do it. Or not letting people enter a wrong password too often.

But, more to the point, don't use an obvious password. If it shows up on a rainbow table, it's not a good password.

 

[shrekfan246]

To be perfectly honest, considering the sheer number of people who barely even know how to make their computers work these days I'm not really surprised that someone on CNN would have no idea what 4chan was, even if he is a "technology analyst". What is that even supposed to mean, and why should it have any relevance on his knowing anything about an internet website? I certainly wouldn't expect someone whose career is "technology analyst" to be trawling through the likes of 4chan and Reddit as a matter of course, because they don't really have anything to do with the "technology" itself.

As for "pa$$word", are we also sure he wasn't kidding? Even if he wasn't, this whole thing just seems like "Hahaha, dumb people, amirite?" I find that to be somewhat tasteless, sorry.

 

[Queen Michael]

As for "pa$$word", are we also sure he wasn't kidding? Even if he wasn't, this whole thing just seems like "Hahaha, dumb people, amirite?" I find that to be somewhat tasteless, sorry.

I watched the video; the man was serious.

I don't think it's all that tasteless to make fun of a person who took CNN's money for doing an awful job, just like I would gladly mock a doctor who doesn't know what the jugular vein is. If he doesn't take his job seriously, he can quit.

 

[shrekfan246]

As for "pa$$word", are we also sure he wasn't kidding? Even if he wasn't, this whole thing just seems like "Hahaha, dumb people, amirite?" I find that to be somewhat tasteless, sorry.

I watched the video; the man was serious.

I don't think it's all that tasteless to make fun of a person who took CNN's money for doing an awful job, just like I would gladly mock a doctor who doesn't know what the jugular vein is. If he doesn't take his job seriously, he can quit.

Allow me to clarify that I think it was in poor taste to make a thread on this website with the sole purpose of mocking the man, especially while providing us no information about what he actually does as a job other than the fact that it's apparently called "technology analyst" (as there's a lot of "technology" which could be "analyzed" that has nothing to do with the day-to-day use of computers).

Mock away all you want, that's your own prerogative and I've been known to do it myself on occasion, but I just don't see what the point was in highlighting on a public forum the fact that this man said something silly solely so that everyone else could laugh at him with you. But then, maybe I'm just tired of people saying silly things overall right now, considering how much of it has happened over the past few weeks. In which case, I'll just agree to disagree and say carry on.

 

[Grach]

"Who is this 4chan person? We just don't know".

Oh god, that sounds like it belongs in a South Park episode parodying news broadcasts that get their facts wrong.

I'm looking forward to when they'll tell us about that new Islamist extremist guy, Al Quaida.

Get with the times man, it's all about this Isis chick now.

 

[IPunchWithMyFists]

As for "pa$$word", are we also sure he wasn't kidding? Even if he wasn't, this whole thing just seems like "Hahaha, dumb people, amirite?" I find that to be somewhat tasteless, sorry.

I watched the video; the man was serious.

I don't think it's all that tasteless to make fun of a person who took CNN's money for doing an awful job, just like I would gladly mock a doctor who doesn't know what the jugular vein is. If he doesn't take his job seriously, he can quit.

Allow me to clarify that I think it was in poor taste to make a thread on this website with the sole purpose of mocking the man, especially while providing us no information about what he actually does as a job other than the fact that it's apparently called "technology analyst" (as there's a lot of "technology" which could be "analyzed" that has nothing to do with the day-to-day use of computers).

Mock away all you want, that's your own prerogative and I've been known to do it myself on occasion, but I just don't see what the point was in highlighting on a public forum the fact that this man said something silly solely so that everyone else could laugh at him with you. But then, maybe I'm just tired of people saying silly things overall right now, considering how much of it has happened over the past few weeks. In which case, I'll just agree to disagree and say carry on.

This would not have made news if it was some regular dude from wherever podunk town who claims to be 'kinda good at computers'. Making fun of whoever that guy is would be a dick move.

This guy however is an 'expert'. Posing as an 'expert'. Getting paid money to be on a nationally broadcast show to talk about computers. He thinks '4 Chan' is a person. He has no concept of password security much less common sense ('pa$$word may actually be a worse password than 'password' because if password guessing software came up with 'password' as the result, people may just think you're kidding and try again. There is no difference in entropy or difficulty of guessing). However much he was paid to pretend to know what he was talking about was either too much or too little.

And that's hilarious.

 

[IPunchWithMyFists]

"Curses! We almost had access to every nude picture of everyone on the internet! Damn you, Brett Larson! Damn you!!"

- Fore Channe

 

[COMaestro]

I don't trust How Secure Is My Password's estimates. We have a password cracker at my work and one of my passwords, which the website claims would take a desktop 58 years to crack was done in about an hour or two. I'm also pretty sure that Pa$$word, or even Pa$$w0rd (3 days estimated) would be cracked in about a minute by any tool worth the time.

Still, the higher the number listed, the harder the password will be to crack, but just because HSIMP gives you an estimate of 50 years, don't assume that's really the case.

 

[IPunchWithMyFists]

I don't trust How Secure Is My Password's estimates. We have a password cracker at my work and one of my passwords, which the website claims would take a desktop 58 years to crack was done in about an hour or two. I'm also pretty sure that Pa$$word, or even Pa$$w0rd (3 days estimated) would be cracked in about a minute by any tool worth the time.

Still, the higher the number listed, the harder the password will be to crack, but just because HSIMP gives you an estimate of 50 years, don't assume that's really the case.

"Haha! HSIMP is a farce! We control the internet high seas once more! We're coming for you Lt. Brett Larson! We'll have your head, ye scurvy dog!"

- Captain Redbeard Forchan

 

[garjian]

Spoiler: Spoiler snip!

"Curses! We almost had access to every nude picture of everyone on the internet! Damn you, Brett Larson! Damn you!!"

- Fore Channe

"this is my password" would apparently take 204 trillion years to crack... my own would apparently only take about 10 days on average. :|
If this is anything to go by, having a longer password is far more important than having a complex password... "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" is a better password than any of mine on this.

 

[Frission]

It's not even that hard to research this. He only had to type 4chan in any search engine and he would have gotten an answer.
How lazy can you get?

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

It's not even that hard to research this. He only had to type 4chan in any search engine and he would have gotten an answer.
How lazy can you get?

"What is this 'research' and how do I go about acquiring it?" would be CNN and his reaction to your wild idea.

 

[Qwurty2.0]

It's pretty sad, but not exactly shocking. The media/news has never done a good job of portraying the internet/computers in a truthful fashion.

What's annoying is how I can't browse Reddit when someone simply mentions 4chan and he gets a train of people joking "Isn't that the one hacker guy?!" "It's a group of 4 Chinese hackers. See this pic? The left one is 2chan and the right one is 4chan!".