Cameron's conference Wi-Fi code calamity
![rupert-goodwins.jpg](https://www.zdnet.com/a/img/resize/e619cfffd4c10b5e90fd9c308bfdde1ef1ba19ed/2014/07/22/183563f6-1174-11e4-9732-00505685119a/rupert-goodwins.jpg?auto=webp&fit=crop&frame=1&height=192&width=192)
OK, it's not much of a calamity. But when you want to be seen as leading a government intent on making the internet a safer place, heading up global cybersecurity and locking down the nation's digital jewels, it's a bit bad to be the agent of — oh, I don't know — encouraging attacks on VIP laptops.
So it's a bit of a shame that David Cameron has just appeared live on national TV from a conference in a hotel in central London posing in front of a cinema-sized screen that's giving away... well, what do you think?
![David Cameron](https://www.zdnet.com/a/img/2014/10/02/872502c3-4a11-11e4-b6a0-d4ae52e95e57/cameron-password.jpg)
To us at ZDNet UK, it looks like the VIP password for the conference Wi-Fi. Which means anyone capable of getting within sniffing distance can get access to that network — and can start to inspect packets, scan ports, investigate vulnerabilities and so on. In our experience, hotel Wi-Fi codes work everywhere in the building, which should be interesting for anyone with a laptop watching the telly in a room upstairs, and as we know, Wi-Fi can be the vector for some nasty attacks on personal authentication.
So, to help Dave from PR and his security experts, here's a recap on safe passwords from DirectGov's "how to be secure online" advice page:
Good passwords should:
* never be shared (including with helpline staff), written down or observed * be at least seven characters long * be a mixture of lower and upper case letters, numbers and other keyboard characters * changed regularly - every three months is good guide * not be the same on all the sites you use
Anything else we can do, just let us know.