I flagged a major Data Protection breach but still feel uneasy

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13

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  • iammumtoone
    iammumtoone Posts: 6,377 Forumite
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    edited 10 December 2017 at 12:11AM
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    To be fair to the OP I would have tested it as well, not 10 but I would have certainly tried one.

    How was the OP to know that it wasn't secure if they didn't test it?

    For all they knew there was a clever way of the site determining if their computer was the right computer to access the information. Or some other way of verification they were unaware of.

    They could have complained without knowing for sure but wouldn't have felt so confident in escalating the issue (and getting it resolved) if they weren't sure of their facts.

    I don't think you should have written the details down or even looked enough to see the details. Just telling the company that their security wasn't acceptable would have been enough no need to prove it, that would be their job to investigate.
  • Manxman_in_exile
    Manxman_in_exile Posts: 8,380 Forumite
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    LauraFox wrote: »
    Clearly, you are not a woman and you have never been in an abusive relationship. Lucky you.


    I don't think you need to be a woman to be a victim in an abusive relationship. Women can be just as abusive as men. It does happen...
  • Greta_Sharbo
    Greta_Sharbo Posts: 349 Forumite
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    LauraFox wrote: »
    Clearly, you are not a woman and you have never been in an abusive relationship. Lucky you.

    Phew, I was worried this thread wouldn't get as far as someone mentioning that only men are capable of abusive behaviour.
  • arcon5
    arcon5 Posts: 14,099 Forumite
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    Email them asking for a freebie or some other form of remuneration so we can end this saga
  • ssparks2003
    ssparks2003 Posts: 809 Forumite
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    LauraFox wrote: »
    Clearly, you are not a woman and you have never been in an abusive relationship. Lucky you.

    Got to love a bit of casual sexism,
  • powerful_Rogue
    powerful_Rogue Posts: 7,569 Forumite
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    LauraFox wrote: »
    Sorry to see you are the only one in here who didn't get this, but I ll explain to you. I accessed other accounts only enough times so as to prove a point, I wrote down names and cities and listed them in my letter so that they company would see it as evidence of the vulnerability.

    Oh I get it, so don't be so patronising.

    White hat or black hat - You was still a hacker.
  • boliston
    boliston Posts: 3,012 Forumite
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    Fortunately this is the least serious type of hacking with a maximum of only 2 years imprisonment and/or a fine under the computer misuse act.

    Hacking
    Hacking is the popular term for what is properly called 'cracking'. We use the term hacking as a synonym for cracking, though strictly speaking a cracker is one who breaks into someone else's computer system, while a hacker is just a computer programmer.
    Under the Computer Misuse Act 1990, the following are offences:
    Unauthorised access to computer material (section 1);
    Unauthorised access with intent to commit or facilitate commission of further offences (section 2); and
    Unauthorised modification of computer material (section 3).
    The maximum penalty for the section 1 offence (unauthorised access to computer material) is two years' imprisonment and a fine. For a section 2 offence, the maximum penalty is 5 years' imprisonment and a fine. For a section 3 offence, the maximum penalty is 10 years' imprisonment and a fine.
    These offences are potentially wide in scope: even guessing the password to access someone else's webmail account could be prosecuted as an offence of unauthorised access to computer material.
  • AndyPix
    AndyPix Posts: 4,847 Forumite
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    Personally i think that the OP should be provided some kind of gratuity here.


    She has pointed out a security flaw (a pretty terrible one) in a companys data systems.


    She is not an employee of this company and has done them a service.


    Most big tech companies run a "bug bounty" scheme for just this type of thing, where they pay "users" to report flaws in their systems to them.
    They have benefited from this, so why shouldnt they give a small token of appreciation ?


    It's quite clear that the OP didnt go about this with the intention of monitory gain
  • Greta_Sharbo
    Greta_Sharbo Posts: 349 Forumite
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    AndyPix wrote: »
    It's quite clear that the OP didnt go about this with the intention of monitory gain

    Not initially but it does now appear to be the focus.
  • sheramber
    sheramber Posts: 19,321 Forumite
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    My friend even said the company should have given me a free subscription for highlighting something that their own techies / managers should have picked up as I have potentially saved them a big fine and some very bad publicity.

    But it seems she now expects to get some gratuity.
This discussion has been closed.
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