It’s not surprising that most websites can be exploited easily. If 90% of the world’s sites are created by fly-by-night “web designers” – or rather, those versed enough in Windows to figure out how to use Dreamweaver, or worse yet, Frontpage – then it is no surprise to me that most websites are easily exploitable through well known security holes in programming, networks and server technology.
Still, a June 30 story from Wired reveals that the two most prominent people in American politics today, President George W. Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry, maintain campaign websites that are full of security holes. Apparently, at least, the server hosting Kerry’s website is behind a locked door with an armed guard. (rolleyes)That’s intimidating!
On Sunday, security analyst Richard Smith did a quick check of the Bush and Kerry campaign sites and found several security problems on each, all of which are common on many other websites.
But after Smith posted a report of his findings to several security lists, others opted to do a deeper analysis and found some significant problems on Bush’s website. One researcher used a commercial program called GFI LANguard to scan Bush’s site. He said he found over 30 security faults. The researcher asked not to be identified because of concern that his scans could be construed as illegal under the Patriot Act. He submitted a digital copy of the results of the scan to Wired News.
According to several findings in the article, I’d like to congratulations to Kerry on the able use of the Apache webserver. That is also likely why there were fewer security holes found on his website. However, I’d like to condemn both campaigns on the use of “web bugs”. Who the hell do you think we are? In the same way I won’t let you in my own home to determine what kind of breakfast cereal I eat, what kind of shampoo I use, what kinds of television shows I watch and when I typically sit down to eat dinner, I won’t stand for being tracked on the net. I won’t place banners on websites I run to track my users. I won’t let you place cookies on my computers to find where I’ve been. I won’t. Count on it.
Aaron
Stumble it!
About the Author: Aaron Brazell is the lead editor of Technosailor.com and a social media expert. His passion is to see companies and individuals use the internet and web technologies wisely and effectively to promote their brands and companies. He served as Director of Technology at b5media from 2005-2008 and is currently an independent consultant.
