05 June, 2016
You know how we are not supposed to use a simple term like "password" when creating a password?
Someone forgot to tell North Korea.
Or they didn't listen. Because a British teenager gained use of a new North Korean website by entering the password ... "password."
Scotland's Andrew McKean, 18, hacked a website North Korea calls "Best Korean Social Network." It looks like a Facebook page, but it is not part of the American-based social network. The real Facebook site serves more than 1 billion people every month.
The North Korea site, reports MarketWatch, is seen by about 1,000 households.
McKean said he found out which computer program was used to build the site, according to NYMag.com. Then, he easily hacked the admin account, or the account that controls the site.
"McKean says he had access to user accounts, the ability to censor content, and could have even changed the site name," said the online magazine.
But all he left was a simple message that read, "Uh, I didn't create this site just found the login."
The site appears to be taken down.
I'm Kathleen Struck.
Kathleen Struck wrote this story for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.
Have you ever been hacked? Was your password easy to guess? Leave us a Comment, and post your response on testbig.com, thanks!
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Words in This Story
hacked – v. to break into files or accounts
network - n. a system of lines, wires that are connected to each other
households -adj. of or relating to a house or the people living in the house
account - n. a company's record of the products or services used by a customer