Hawaii emergency agency password caught on a Post-it in public photo

This is the same agency that recently sent a false missile alert out to the state of Hawaii.
 By 
Rachel Kraus
 on 

If you thought there was nothing worse to put on a Post-it note than a break-up letter, think again.

On Tuesday, a photo of an employee at Hawaii's Emergency Management Agency, which was originally published in July, made the internet rounds because of something hiding on the man's computer. For reference, that's the same agency that mistakenly sent out a missile alert to Hawaiian residents on Saturday.

The photo, taken by the Associated Press for a prior news article, shows the employee's desk with his many monitors. And stuck to one of those monitors is a Post-it note — with a password on it. The employee was identified by the AP as an operations officer.

So the agency that's responsible for terrifying droves of people with a fake missile alert had previously mistakenly broadcast a password to the public. Great. The photo has since driven debate online about the agency's cybersecurity practices and how big of a deal it is to write your passwords down.

The missile and Post-it incidences are unrelated, and it's unclear what the photographed password was for. The Hawaiian agency says the missile alert happened when an employee chose the wrong option from a drop-down menu.

For an agency charged with keeping Americans safe and informed, one would think greater care would be taken. Especially for the American state closest to one of our biggest international foes, North Korea — a foreign power that our president keeps egging on with taunts of nuclear war. SMDH.

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Rachel Kraus

Rachel Kraus is a Mashable Tech Reporter specializing in health and wellness. She is an LA native, NYU j-school graduate, and writes cultural commentary across the internetz.

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