Most network equipment comes from the manufacturer with a common
default password. The bad guys know what these are.
Before, or as soon as you attach a piece of equipment to our network
(or anywhere else, for that matter) IMMEDIATELY CHANGE THE PASSWORD.
If you don't, your device will be hacked in a matter of seconds and
you may lose control of it. It might be used to launch attacks on
other systems, and may become part of an evil botnet spreading
badness across the Internet.
Hardly a week goes by that I don't get an official complaint from
somewhere that a device on our network has been compromised and is
being used to attack other devices.
The root cause is almost always that someone attached their shiny
new computer/router/accesspoint/camera/toy to the network and
it got taken over because they forgot to CHANGE THE PASSWORD.
Oh, and be careful when upgrading firmware: in far too many devices
when you flash new firmware into it, the password gets reset to the
factory default. Be sure to check it afterwards!
Thank you.
- Brian