California to ban weak passwords

In an effort to better protect its residents from falling victim to cyber attacks, California has announced that it will ban weak passwords from 2020. Default passwords such as “admin” and “password” will be illegal for electronics manufacturers to use in the state as they often allow hackers to easily access consumer devices. California has passed a law that sets higher security standard for all Internet-connected devices made or sold in the region. Under the new law, each gadget must be given a unique password when it is made. The Information Privacy: Connected Devices bill requires that all electronics manufacturers equip their devices with “reasonable” security features. This means they can either use unique passwords on their products or include a start-up procedure that forces users to generate their own when setting up their device for the first time.