Weak default passwords to be made illegal in California

California lawmakers have passed a legislation that will make default passwords such as 'admin' and 'password' illegal in the state from 2020.

The Information Privacy: Connected Devices Bill, which will begin on 1 January 2020, will require manufacturers of connected devices to set unique preprogrammed default passwords for every single device they make.

"This bill would require a manufacturer of a connected device to equip the device with a reasonable security feature or features that are appropriate to the nature and function of the device, appropriate to the information it may collect, contain, or transmit, and designed to protect the device and any information contained therein from unauthorized access, destruction, use, modification, or disclosure, as specified," the bill stated.

The bill will also allow customers who suffer due to a weak default password to sue if a company is found to have ignored the law.

Highlighting the need for strong laws and manufacturers to strengthen device security, a number of recent cyber attacks have used default and easy to guess passwords as a route into peoples homes and businesses, allowing for the spread of various types of malware.

Recently, a research paper from Yossi Oren of Ben-Gurion University said that household devices such as baby monitors, home security and web cameras, doorbells and thermostats shared the same common default passwords and that consumers rarely changed them after purchase.

Last year, routers made by BT, TalkTalk and Sky were found to have the same password flaw as Virgin Super Hub 2 devices, which were easy targets for criminals because of weak default passwords.

In May, Cisco's cybersecurity division, Talos, warned that hackers had infected some 500,000 internet routers and storage devices with Russian state-developed malware called VPNFiler after exploiting weak passwords.