From "LOUVRE" to Eight Zeros — Password Blunders That Triggered Ransoms, Scandals and Shutdowns

How predictable passwords and lax security caused real-world damage

A resurfaced 2014 security assessment revealed that the password protecting the Louvre’s CCTV server was simply "LOUVRE." That kind of obvious credential is not an isolated curiosity — it exemplifies a wider pattern of weak or mismanaged passwords that have led to ransomware payouts, ruined businesses, privacy scandals and even near-catastrophic military vulnerabilities.

Colonial Pipeline: an obsolete account, a huge disruption

In May 2021, a major U.S. fuel pipeline was forced offline after attackers believed to be the DarkSide criminal group exploited a compromised password tied to an unused VPN account. The account lacked multi-factor authentication (MFA), allowing remote access that halted operations and prompted a $4.4 million ransom payment. The FBI later recovered millions from DarkSide, but the incident highlighted how a single weak or neglected credential can disrupt critical infrastructure.

Nuclear launch codes: eight zeros and human shortcuts

Former Air Force launch officer Bruce Blair revealed that, between 1962 and the mid-1970s, U.S. launch procedures effectively allowed a simple entry — eight zeros — to be part of the process. Although a two-person rule was intended as a safeguard, improvised shift patterns sometimes left one individual in control. The Strategic Air Command later added a unique enable code transmitted from higher authority to strengthen verification. The story reads almost like satire, but it underlines how complacent practices can turn trivial inputs into grave risks.

KNP and the collapse of a 158-year-old business

In June 2023 the Northamptonshire transport firm KNP was targeted by the hacking group Akira, which reportedly gained entry after guessing an employee’s password. Attackers encrypted files and locked systems, then demanded a ransom. With payment not made, critical data was lost and the 158-year-old company folded, costing hundreds of jobs. The director later said he had not informed the employee whose weak password likely precipitated the breach — a sobering example of how individual credentials can affect entire organisations.

Phone-hacking scandal: default voicemail codes exploited

High-profile figures including Hugh Grant, Prince Harry and Sienna Miller were among victims of a long-running phone-hacking scandal. Journalists and private investigators accessed voicemails by using default handset codes that many users never changed — simple combinations like 1111, 4444 and 1234 were commonly abused. The scandal helped force the closure of the News of the World in 2011 and triggered broad inquiries into press practices and ethics.

Political prank — and an obvious password

In 2018 Conservative politician Kemi Badenoch admitted she had once edited Labour peer Harriet Harman’s official website about a decade earlier. The edit was possible because the site’s editing password was the politician’s own name: "Harriet Harman." Badenoch called it a "foolish prank" and later apologised. The episode underscores how trivial credentials can enable even low-effort tampering.

Electoral Register breach and systemic lapses

Between August 2021 and 2022 attackers accessed computers containing the UK’s Electoral Registers — databases of millions of voters — according to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The ICO found repeated failures: patches for known vulnerabilities were not applied and the organisation failed to enforce secure-password policies. Investigators discovered 178 active email accounts still using default or similar passwords assigned when accounts were created. The Electoral Commission was formally reprimanded; investigators reported no evidence that the data was misused, but the exposure illustrated systemic security weaknesses.

Key lessons and practical steps

These incidents show that predictable credentials and poor hygiene are not harmless. They create risk at every scale — from personal privacy violations to national infrastructure outages.

To reduce risk, organisations and individuals should:

• Use multi-factor authentication (MFA) wherever possible.
• Adopt long, unique passphrases managed with a password manager rather than reusing simple passwords.
• Apply security patches promptly and decommission unused accounts.
• Enforce strong password policies and provide regular staff training on phishing and credential hygiene.
• Maintain offline backups and incident response plans so ransomware or data loss does not force catastrophic decisions.

Predictable credentials are an easy vulnerability to fix — but only if organisations and users prioritise basic security discipline.