High school passwords are “Ch@ngeme!”

According to , a high school accidentally reset everyone’s password to “Ch@ngeme!” after a cybersecurity audit.

Oak Park and River Forest (OPRF) High School in Illinois informed parents last week that during a cybersecurity audit, “due to an unexpected vendor error, the system reset every student’s password, preventing students from being able to log in to their Google account.”

We reset your child’s password to Ch@ngeme! to restore their Google account. “This password change will begin at 4 p.m. today,” the 3,000-student school wrote in an email on June 22. “We recommend that your child change this password to their own as soon as possible.”

No organization should force a password reset by giving everyone the same password. Every user is forced to log out and then asked to change their password when they log in.

Manning Peterson, mother of an OPRF student, said, “This is terribly insecure and you have just invited every single students [sic] accounts to get hacked.”

After this email, Peterson tried to reset her son’s password but failed.

Peterson wrote to , “My son and I were able to log into several of his peers [sic] google accounts, which gave access to all emails, papers, class work—anything saved on google drive (docs sheets and slides).

The school realized the mistake a day later and emailed parents that the Education Technology Department “will be emailing you a special password process over the weekend that will be unique to your specific student.”

Email requests for comment from OPRF superintendent Greg Johnson and assistant superintendent/principal Lynda Parker went unanswered.