Guessable Admin Password Exposes Sloppy Network Security
The Register, Thursday, May 7th, 2026
A CISO advisor successfully guessed a client's admin password by trying "rosebud" from Citizen Kane, highlighting poor password practices.
Roger Grimes, a CISO advisor at KnowBe4, needed to access a client's network on a Saturday to install accounting software but lacked the admin credentials. Unable to reach anyone for the password, he attempted to guess it by trying various common passwords.
Inspired by a famous movie scene from Citizen Kane, he successfully guessed the password was "rosebud," a reference to the film's plot point. While fortunate that a legitimate contractor made the guess rather than a malicious actor, the incident highlights dangerous password practices, particularly choosing passwords from movie references without numbers, capital letters, or symbols.
The article recommends using randomly generated passwords managed by password managers or passphrases containing mixed characters for stronger security.