Several Norwegian politicians have had their passwords leaked

Development Minister Nikolai Astrup.Photo: Pontus Höök / NTB scanpix

Aftenposten has found the previous passwords of several Norwegian top politicians in a searchable database on the web.

 

In recent years there have been several databases where you can check whether your own password has been leaked through various data interruptions of internet companies in recent years.

In one of these databases, Aftenposten has found the previous passwords of several Norwegian top politicians. One of them is Development Minister Nikolai Astrup (H).

– “This is a password I have used. I can confirm that. It’s an old password, but many use variants of the same password, and it’s very unfortunate,” said Astrup, when he learned Wednesday that a password he used was available online.

Several business executives have also suffered, including Telenor’s CEO Sigve Brekke and DNB’s CEO Rune Bjerke. In addition, Hans Christian Pretorius, the National Security Authority’s ICT Security Officer, and Torgeir Waterhouse, Director of ICT Norway, have had their passwords leaked.

Waterhouse has one call for the Norwegian people after leakage:

– This is not good. Change your password now, regardless of whether you find yourself in such listings or in just one. If you have had the same password over time, it should be replaced, he says to Aftenposten.

Aftenposten’s sampling shows that Norwegian top politicians and business leaders use very obvious words or phrases when making their passwords. In many cases the name of their wife, children or dogs, in combination with birth year or other numbers, are usually used.

 

© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today