Summary

Leaked records show that Tulsi Gabbard, now director of national intelligence, reused the same weak password across personal accounts for years, including during her congressional tenure on sensitive committees.

The password, containing “shraddha,” an offshoot of the Hare Krishna movement into which she was reportedly born and which former members have accused of being a cult, appeared in multiple data breaches.

Though not used on government accounts, the reuse violated basic cybersecurity practices. Gabbard’s team dismissed scrutiny as “bigoted” and politically motivated.

Experts warn such behavior poses serious security risks, especially given Gabbard’s current role overseeing U.S. intelligence and national security operations.

  • @LovingHippieCat@lemmy.world
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    5614 days ago

    I was going to comment a joke saying that it must have been “Iminacult1234” only to find out that it was actually a reference to her cult. She shouldn’t be anywhere near power.

    • @dhork@lemmy.world
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      1514 days ago

      Shit, I need to change the password on my luggage…

      (That joke hasn’t aged well, because the TSA has keys to unlock all our luggage now…)

      • @Hylactor@sopuli.xyz
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        1114 days ago

        You can just jam a ballpoint pen through most zippers then zip back over it to reclose leaving the lock undisturbed.

      • Only if you use a TSA lock. And those TSA keys started as a collection of keys that were just commonly reused across locks, so people kept them around.

          • WalrusDragonOnABike [they/them]
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            13 days ago

            When you have a model number or entire brands or multiple brands that are all keyed alike and sold publicly, it hardly counts as a leak. You could go to Walmart and find them there too. Even before they were called TSA keys.

    • @Zachariah@lemmy.world
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      613 days ago

      So the combination is one, two, three, four, five. That’s the stupidest combination I’ve ever heard in my life! That’s the kinda thing an idiot would have on his luggage!

  • Geetnerd
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    1413 days ago

    User: tgabbard

    Password: missskunkystripe666

  • @kreskin@lemmy.world
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    713 days ago

    Gabbard’s team dismissed scrutiny as “bigoted” and politically motivated.

    bigoted? I dont think idiots are a class of people that need protection.

  • @iAvicenna@lemmy.world
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    13 days ago

    russiarules12345

    Surely they are making a fuss, who would be interested in targeting the head of national security to one of the biggest countries (and most hated by easterners) on Earth?

  • @FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au
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    313 days ago

    (There is no indication that she used the password on government accounts.)

    Why do we care then?

    MOST PEOPLE re-use passwords for everything. Most people use the most-used passwords in every data breach as their passwords. Stuff like this shouldn’t surprise anyone. Most members of government likely don’t even know what 2FA is, and likely use Password123 as their password. They’re not known for being tech wiz’s.

  • @Pnut@lemm.ee
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    212 days ago

    Investigating Republicans for doing the exact things they say other people do would be a very easy job.

  • @SolarMonkey@slrpnk.net
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    13 days ago

    Meh, I use the same super-weak password for tons of sites I don’t give a flying fuck about.

    I took all the military opsec and infosec courses, because I was in intel, and my partner is currently an IT security professional, but some accounts just don’t warrant giving a damn.

    I don’t use it for anything important, I let my password manager handle those, but bullshit “create an account to checkout” stuff that I use another payment system for? Meh.

    This doesn’t seem like news, beyond looking for something to report on.