back to article What would have stopped TV5Monde hack? Yup, MOAR LAWS

Europe’s Digital Commissioner, Gunther H-dot Oettinger, says we are all far too laissez-faire with our passwords. Oetti made the comments to German weekly Welt am Sonntag after hacked French telly-box channel TV5Monde exposed its passwords on air one day after being shut down by an ISIS cyberattack. Never one to miss a chance …

  1. Dan 55 Silver badge
    Meh

    Wouldn't it be easier if everyone just bought a bunch of O'Reilly security books instead of having the EU mandate MD5 encryption for passwords stored in databases.

  2. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Windows

    Excellent Igor. All is going according to plan!

    My dastardly plan to soften up people for imminent world domination by replacing Oetti's brain with my ExtraTard Business-o-Tron StateWorship 2000 death-by-political-hypnosis device is proceeding. Nobody has noticed the operation which we cunningly performed in the loo of the Brussels Ritz Carlton!

  3. Khaptain Silver badge

    So easy to protect, not

    There have been several reports mentioning that this was likely an inside job, or at least they had access to someone on the inside feeding them with appropriate information.

    How exactly will your "efforts" prevent this kind of situation. Oh, they won't, your appearance is just another public outrage/whine in order to gain some airtime...

    "Digital Commissioner", now that's a very nice title and probably very handsomely paid. Do you actually need to know anything about IT, Security and/or the real world ?

    This is where I do not understand Democracy and the voting/electoral system, how the hell do these people get into these positions..

    1. DropBear
      Joke

      Re: So easy to protect, not

      "Digital Commissioner" - is that the job where you have to tweet a picture of the BatSignal to get Batman to buzz you on Skype to ask what's wrong...?

      1. hplasm
        Thumb Up

        Re: So easy to protect, not

        "Digital Commissioner" - on the BatTablet under the cake-dome?

    2. scrubber
      WTF?

      European democracy is an oxymoron

      The digital commissioner is a member of the European Commission.

      The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. This 28 strong body is selected by the European Council (1 member per state).

      The European Council comprises the heads of state/government of each country.

      The European Parliament (the only bunch actually voted for) gets to rubber stamp the Council's selections, but that's really all they do.

      Lest you think people might vote for heads of state, I'd just like to point out that only 33,973 people voted for Cameron in 2010. Just sayin'.

      1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

        Re: European democracy is an oxymoron

        "Lest you think people might vote for heads of state, I'd just like to point out that only 33,973 people voted for Cameron in 2010. Just sayin'."

        Except that many UK voters don't seem to understand what or who they are voting for these days. The insidious implications of much political electioneering is geared towards making the voting population think they are voting in a US Presidential style election instead of for their local MP.

    3. Grass Mud Horse

      Re: So easy to protect, not

      Günther Hermann Oettinger made his way democratically to the office of Ministerpraesident of Baden-Württemberg (second tier leader, equivalent to provincial governor). After falling out of favor golden handshake off to Brussels. See Wikipedia for interesting interpretation in a leaked US document.

      Why Juncker nominated him for Digital Comissioner of all things is open to speculation. It could not have been for qualification. Probably suggested by Berlin who didn't want a loose cannon during TTIP negotiations.

  4. Mark 85

    Been a lot of this lately...

    I'm guessing election season is getting near all around the world... The old "let's pass a law and make everyone feel good about voting us back in" ploy.

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Re: Been a lot of this lately...

      Commissioners are parachuted in by their respective governments, they're not voted for.

  5. Queasy Rider

    Turn-around is fair play

    “A well-organised exchange of information between member states on cyber-attacks and IT security vulnerabilities can significantly improve our safety level,”

    'Cause once we know the vulnerability, WE can use it against OUR enemies.

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