A popular feature on my site, and the subject of several emails in my inbox every day, is my Default Passwords directory.
I put together this FAQ to help answer some of the more common questions I receive about default passwords.
"Where does all of this default password information come from?"
Manufacturers of routers, motherboards, and other password protected computer hardware publish the default passwords, and other default information, for their hardware in their product manuals.
I have personally found each and every piece of default information you might find on my site unless I've specifically called out that a default password or other piece of information has been "user submitted."
"Publishing default password, username, and IP data only helps hackers! None of this should be public information!"
I disagree completely.
Default data for a piece of hardware is valuable information to have after resetting a hardware device or when troubleshooting a hardware issue. Aside from the value for my readers in particular, default data is often times an absolute must when first setting up a hardware device, especially networking devices like routers.
Additionally, as I mentioned above, manufacturers have always made this information accessible via their product manuals. I'm just helping to make it more easily available to those who need it when facing an issue.
At the end of the day, security is the responsibility of the owner. A properly configured router means, at very least, a secure password. A new computer owner that decides to use the BIOS or system password should actually set their own. You get the idea.
"There are lots of default password lists on the Internet. Aren't you just republishing information that's already available?"
Absolutely not.
It's true that there are many default password lists, especially for network devices like routers. However, most of these default password lists are rarely updated, contain only a few popular hardware models, and have been created almost entirely by user submissions.
The huge majority of default passwords and other default data that you may have found on this site have been sourced by me alone, directly from the hardware device's manufacturer-issued product manual.
"The default password for [abc] is wrong and you should correct it."
Just let me know and I'll get the information corrected as soon as possible.
I'd prefer to stick with information clearly from the manufacturer so I'd appreciate it if you could link me to the product manual where you found this better default data information.
If the correct information did not come directly from the hardware manufacturer, please let me know how you know it to be true.
"Help! The default password, username, or other data doesn't work!"
Aside from a rare problem with the hardware, this means that someone has changed the password, username, or whatever data, from its default to something else.
In most cases, the solution is to "reset" the hardware. Your best bet for figuring out how to reset a piece of hardware is to reference the instructions for doing so in the hardware device's manual, available from the hardware maker's website.
You can find links to hardware product manuals in my Directory of Manufacturer Support Sites.
If you need more technical help, feel free to post your question in the PC Support Forum.
"I have a question about one of your default data articles that you haven't answered above."
As long as it's not technical (see the question above) you can always email me directly and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.
