Wait, is this congressman's phone passcode just 777777?

Texas Rep. Lance Gooden made a Kanye joke in response, which isn't very reassuring, but OK.
Original image replaced with Mashable logo

A congressman, responsible for leading the lawmaking process and representing the interests of the American people, has a comically weak phone passcode.

An eagle-eyed viewer spotted Lance Gooden, a Republican representative from Texas, typing in his phone's passcode on camera on Wednesday during Mark Zuckerberg testimony before the House Financial Services Committee. Although Gooden can easily be targeted as a weak link in national security, his passcode appears to be a simple 777777.

The GIF has over 146,000 views on Gfycat at the time of writing, and also hit the Frontpage of Reddit on Thursday.

Twitter users were both horrified and amused at how ill prepared elected officials are when it comes to digital security.

Some noticed similarities between Gooden's passcode and Kanye West's, who went viral last year for typing in his very secure passcode of all zeroes on camera during his meeting with Donald Trump in the Oval Office.

Despite serious concerns over his digital habits, Gooden is leaning into it. He responded with a joke that few Twitter users find funny.

When Mashable's tech correspondent Jack Morse called out Gooden on Twitter, he responded by sharing an article Morse wrote in 2017 about how Apple's Face ID makes a device less secure than a strong alphanumeric password.

That doesn't excuse 777777 as a passcode, though.

Should we be worried? Yes. Are we tired? Absolutely.

Topics Cybersecurity

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