March 29, 2001

  • From the Toronto Star posted September 8, 2000


    We should be proud of Dan, he's a super cyber-sleuth!


    "These days, Ikea is Swedish for giving the world the names of its customers. The names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of 144,229 North Americans sat exposed on the company's Web site earlier this week.


          But whether it was a malicious attack or a security shortfall depends on whom you talk to.Dan Huddle, chief technology officer at Internet publisher Xanga.com, said he discovered the information when he visited the Ikea site to order the company's catalogue Monday morning. After submitting his contact information, an error message appeared.

          According to the message, a database file at a specific location, or path, had received too much information and overflowed.

          That was the Huddle's first clue that something wasn't right. On a secure site, an error message with specific information about the location of the database wouldn't appear on an outside user's screen. It would be sent to the person who maintains the site.

          Huddle quickly realized the location listed in the error message could probably be accessed by anyone.

          "I was just in disbelief," said Huddle. "Normally you would put a file like that in a directory that the public couldn't access, but Ikea didn't do that. So I went right to the file and downloaded it."

          Huddle found the names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses for the 144,266 Canadians and Americans who had requested the Ikea catalogue over the long weekend."


    Is this the same Dan Huddle as mentioned (Nov '97) here? :


    "The old office had more character; this is more businesslike," said Dan Huddle, a 20-year-old Motley Fool Web programmer whose desk is lined with boxes of Fruity Pebbles cereal. His bosses mention the company budget more, he said. Huddle recently was asked to sign a code of conduct. And with the added space, he said, employees e-mail one another more, speak to one another less.

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