[ insider_reports_insider ]
Fox News Gaffe Revealed Personal Data
David Utter
Staff Writer
2007-07-24
 Insider Reports RSS Feed
As many as 1.5 million email addresses may have been revealed to visitors arriving at an unsecured FTP server courtesy of a login left available by an error on the Fox News website.
 | | Fox News Gaffe Revealed Personal Data |  |
The configuration error on the Fox News website allowed outsiders to find a shell script for logging in to a FTP server run by Ziff-Davis.
Though administrators later disabled the login, it now appears plenty of mischief took place while it was open. Someone will have to explain to Fox News and Ziff-Davis bosses reports of email addresses being available for downloading.
A report on Wikinews suggested outsiders could access names and contact information for upwards of 1.5 million people.
"The FTP site, used for collaboration between different global aspects of Ziff-Davis business, contains data ranging from expense sheets to resumes to opt-out lists used by customers who wish to avoid receiving unsolicited emails," said the report.
"Many of the compromised files make reference to Acxiom, a data management company that, in 2003, experienced a similar theft of personal information."
However, Social Security numbers have not been reported as being in the data that people arriving through the FTP server could access.
Tags: Fox News, Ziff Davis, Computer, Security
About the Author:
David Utter is a business and technology writer for SecurityProNews and WebProNews.
More insider_reports_insider Articles
Insider Reports RSS Feed
|
|
iEntry 10th Anniversary
RSS
Archive
