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Study: Hackers strike every 39 seconds
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (UPI) -- A U.S. study suggests computer hackers try to gain access to computers every 39 seconds.
University of Maryland researchers say their study is one of the first to quantify the near-constant rate of computer hacker attacks.
Assistant Professor Michel Cukier and two of his graduate students, Daniel Ramsbrock and Robin Berthier, set up four Linux computers with weak security and then recorded hacker attacks. "The computers in our study were attacked, on average, 2,244 times a day," said Cukier.
They discovered the vast majority of attacks came from relatively unsophisticated hackers using "dictionary scripts" -- a type of software that runs through lists of common usernames and passwords while attempting to break into a computer.
"Root" was the top username guess, attempted 12 times as often as the second-place "admin." Successful "root" access would open the entire computer to the hacker, while "admin" would grant access to somewhat lesser administrative privileges. Other top usernames in the hackers' scripts were "test," "guest," "info," "adm," "mysql," "user," "administrator" and "oracle."
The username followed by "123" was the second most-tried choice. Other common passwords attempted included "123456," "password," "1234," "123," "test," and "1."
Copyright 2007 by United Press International
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