Idaho Hacker Alert: If These Are Your Passwords, Change Them Right Now

On a daily basis, how many times to enter a password? Between your e-mail accounts, bank accounts, tools for your job and your streaming services, it’s getting more and more difficult for Idahoans to keep track of the scroll of passwords they have to remember. 

Unfortunately, cyberattacks have become more and more common in Idaho. While we know from personal experience how quickly a cyberattack can cripple the workplace, it’s even worse when the cyberattack affects an important service. 

Recent Cyberattacks in Idaho Exposed

You may remember that last July, the Ada County Sheriff’s Department detected some unusual activity in their Emergency Communication systems. As a result, they temporarily took their Computer Aided Dispatch system offline to work with cybersecurity and data forensics experts to investigate what happened and how it happened. While it didn’t completely halt 911 and non-emergency dispatch, the county’s dispatchers did have to work on backup systems and processes while they sorted it out. 

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Earlier this year, the Jefferson School District in Rigby had to cancel school for a few days due to a cyberattack. East Idaho News reports that the district was targeted by a ransomware attack, rendering the day to day technology that teachers used in their classroom useless. The district’s IT department didn’t feel comfortable bringing the technology back online until they had a better grasp on the attack. They also wanted to give teachers enough time to prepare the best way to teach their lessons without access to the technology they were accustomed to. 

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Seculore reveals that Kootenai Health in Coeur d’Alene was also the target of a data breach in 2024. An authorized user was able to access sensitive information like names, birthdates, social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, medical record numbers, diagnosis, medication and health insurance information while inside the system.

That’s why so many company IT administrators are making password requirements more difficult. Their employees are their first line of defense when it comes to preventing cyber criminals from gaining access to a company’s system and data. Having a strong password and using multi factor authentication is the best place to start. 

Idahoans Should Stop Using These Passwords According to Cyber Security Experts

Yet, many Idahoans take the path of least resistance choosing to create easy to remember passwords or reusing variations of old passwords that have been exposed in past data breaches. 

NordPass, a division of NordVPN, analyzed millions of passwords compromised by malware or data leaks to determine which passwords were most commonly used in Idaho and throughout the rest of the country.

All of the passwords on their list of passwords to avoid could be cracked by hackers in under one second and were used by anywhere from 25,000 to 328,800 people.

Needless to say, cyber criminals know that we are lazy when it comes to passwords and are counting on us to use one of these. So, look through this list. If you see your password listed, you’ll probably want to change it ASAP!