Slingshot error puts customer privacy at risk

New Zealand internet service provider Slingshot claims to be "a better place", but that is really not the case after the shocking incident that occurred today.

Media Fetish reported earlier that Facebook was experiencing an issue where users would sign in with their username and password but gain access to a strangers account rather than their own. I can now reveal that this issue was not the fault of Facebook, but instead was caused by an error with Slingshot.

Customers of Slingshot found that this issue was not just occurring on Facebook, but on many various websites where a log-in was required. These websites ranged everywhere from buying and selling site TradeMe to the University of Otago's 'Blackboard' service. It is not yet known whether any online banking services were affected.

'Blackboard' is a site where Otago students can access their study material and grades, submit assignments and send emails to classmates and lecturers. The University of Otago's ITS department said that they received many complaints from those who were accessing the accounts of other students rather than their own, and that all these students were customers of Slingshot. The University had to shut down access to the site off-campus to prevent breaches of privacy and security.

I made a call to Slingshot, who admitted they were the cause of the issue but said they would not disconnect their broadband service temporarily as they did not want customers complaining they had no access. I told them that more people would be upset when they find out Slingshot willingly put their privacy at risk, but they did not seem to care.

After today's incident it has also become apparent that the Bebo error Media Fetish reported on in May was also highly likely to be caused by the ISP Slingshot, rather than the social networking site itself.

Slingshot has a lot of explaining to do, and I expect to hear a statement from them in the media tomorrow.

For more see: "Slingshot Update"

Facebook's turn for the huge error

In May I posted a blog detailing a major error on social networking site Bebo where users were given access to other peoples accounts at random. Well today it is Facebook's turn, with almost the exact same problem occuring this afternoon.

Just a few minutes ago my flatmate came running in saying that Facebook is doing the same thing as Bebo did in May - signing her in to other peoples accounts at random intervals. So far she has been into two other users accounts, but this number may grow if the problem persists for almost an entire day as it did for Bebo. She has also said that Facebook.com would not let her sign out.

A problem like this can allow the private account information of users, such as phone numbers and addresses, to be made available to others. It is a serious breach of privacy and security, and I am shocked that it has happened more than once. It just shows that such issues are not so isolated and can happen anywhere on the internet.

Breaking news in the blogs

The last thing I expected to come out of this assignment was to have my blog referenced to on the front page of the NZ Herald!
I guess it really does show the growing place of blogs in society; that they can often beat the mainstream media to break news.

HUGE Bebo error! (UPDATED)

We all seem to trust that the information we provide to social networking sites such as Bebo and Facebook is safe and secure, and that our account really is our account that nobody else can access or view certain parts of. However an incident such as the one that has occured tonight makes you think differently about your privacy and security in online communities.

At about midnight tonight I was logged in to Bebo under my own account when next minute I noticed I was apparently a member of various 'groups' I had never been a part of before. It was then that I realised Bebo had me signed in under the account of a random girl from Christchurch - with full access to all her information and account features. A couple of minutes later I was suddenly logged in under yet ANOTHER random person's Bebo account, and it was a couple of minutes before Bebo logged me out completely. Obviously this was some kind of error that Bebo has to account for, but in the few minutes that I had access to these peoples accounts I could have done some serious damage, data gathering, or other things we all assume could not happen to our account.

I just hope that nobody randomly has access to my account in the past or future!

UPDATE:
12.30am: Bebo has signed me in again under a strangers account, I now have full access when I Iog in to this girl from Christchurch's information. The girl tells me she has been into 20 peoples accounts tonight and has had friends deleted from her own account.

1.30am: Bebo is now signing me in to various strangers accounts every 10-15min or so. They seem random, yet mostly from New Zealand and a couple have been from Dunedin.

5.30pm: Bebo has still not addressed the issue, which must be some kind of server error. The switching of accounts seems to becoming more frequent, and somebody who has been in my own account kindly uploaded a folder of pornography...