In 2012, LinkedIn was hacked into and as a result, millions of LinkedIn passwords leaked online. And now, it's offline too and all of it can be found in Aram Bartholl’s ‘Forgot Your Password?’ books. The set of eight books is printed with the 4.7 million passwords that were lost, in alphabetical order.
By printing the passwords in books, Bartholl has created a set of books that is almost encyclopaedic, because it offers a snapshot at the private passwords people use.
Currently the eight weighty volumes are touring Europe and people are encouraged to flip through them and maybe even look up their own password. The passwords that people choose for their accounts can be pretty strange and thankfully usernames have not been included in the books.
Key Themes Behind This Trend
- Password Privacy Trends
- Printing password leaks onto physical books has become an eclectic way to showcase how private online information is not truly private.
- Data Breach Awareness Trends
- Creating tangible data-breach artifacts that showcase the severity of cyberattacks is becoming more prevalent in the technology industry.
- Open-source Ecosystems Trends
- The creation of open-source projects like the 'Forgot Your Password?' book series creates a space for developers to work together and build a safer digital future.
Where This Applies
- Cybersecurity Industry
- There is an opportunity for the cybersecurity industry to shift from reactive to proactive by creating tangible data-breach artifacts that showcase the severity of cyberattacks.
- Tech Industry
- The book series provides an opportunity for the tech industry to better educate users about the severity of cyber threats they face daily.
- Publishing Industry
- The password-printed books showcase the versatility of the publishing industry to adapt to the changing needs of the digital age.
