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Can I change the login name of "admin"

Started by ARoninLiberal, March 18, 2018, 12:19:38 PM

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ARoninLiberal

I changed the default webpage login password, but I don't see an option to change the login user name "admin"

It would add more security if we can do this

drgeoff

1. You can't.

2.  Doesn't adding what you would have used as the name to what you would have used for the password give you the same "more security"?

ARoninLiberal

Nope.  Hackers need a login and password to get into an account.  Imagine if your bank had "admin" as it's default and unchangeable login, but you were able to pick your own password.

Sure, the password gives you whatever security a strong password can give, but the hacker no longer needs to guess the other half of the key to get into your account.  That's why you now see a bigger trend towards allowing customers to use a login besides their email.

Personally I don't think it's a huge deal for this application (unless someone is dumb enough to use this tech for lines transmitting sensitive information, but it would have made more secure and made sense to allow users to to pick their user names for logging in too.

Maybe the owners will tweak it better someday...

drgeoff

Quote from: ARoninLiberal on March 18, 2018, 07:52:20 PM
Nope.  Hackers need a login and password to get into an account.  Imagine if your bank had "admin" as it's default and unchangeable login, but you were able to pick your own password.

Sure, the password gives you whatever security a strong password can give, but the hacker no longer needs to guess the other half of the key to get into your account.  That's why you now see a bigger trend towards allowing customers to use a login besides their email.

Personally I don't think it's a huge deal for this application (unless someone is dumb enough to use this tech for lines transmitting sensitive information, but it would have made more secure and made sense to allow users to to pick their user names for logging in too.

Maybe the owners will tweak it better someday...
Maybe I'm not clever enough to see why

Username: secure1
Password: secure2

is more difficult to guess than

Username: admin
Password:  secure1secure2

where secure1 and secure2 represent the "keys".  Admittedly there might be an issue if you want secure1 and secure2 to have lengths which result in their total exceeding the maximum password length the system supports.

SteveInWA

And, by the way, the large majority of networking appliances (routers, switches, ATAs, etc.) all have the same fixed username of "admin", and only some vendors allow it to be changed.  It makes management of multiple such devices a bit easier for, well... the admins.

From a strictly pedantic perspective, a different username might make things more secure, but in the real world, like Geoff pointed out, a strong password is reasonably effective.

ARoninLiberal

Well the point is mute anyway.  Since it's not possible, it's just the way it is.  Thanks for clearing up the inability to change the login name.