Gmail Exploit: Discovered By 14 Years Old Boy

[unimatrix 0]

It's going to happen. Code isn't perfect and sometimes people will find ways around that you (and the rest of the team) didn't even think or know about. It's so long as they do something about it quickly is what counts. It's just like the other day I had a client who wanted to know how to lock down a G4 tower he was giving his 15 year old technical savvy kid. He wanted a "foolproof" way and I was honest with him, there is no fool proof way. Chances are the kid is the one with too much time to go poking through and learn Unix. I told him what software to purchase to filter out sites, set-times, etc. And then I went on after installing that used a few more tricks to block specific sites and ip's at the server level (okay computer level) from the Unix Admin playbook. Same tricks we used back in the day with other Unix distros.Still I'm sure given enough time the kid could figure out a way around all of it. Especially since the parent is primarily into Macs because he runs a photography studio.

[Mordent 0]

It's going to happen. Code isn't perfect and sometimes people will find ways around that you (and the rest of the team) didn't even think or know about. It's so long as they do something about it quickly is what counts.
It's just like the other day I had a client who wanted to know how to lock down a G4 tower he was giving his 15 year old technical savvy kid. He wanted a "foolproof" way and I was honest with him, there is no fool proof way. Chances are the kid is the one with too much time to go poking through and learn Unix. I told him what software to purchase to filter out sites, set-times, etc. And then I went on after installing that used a few more tricks to block specific sites and ip's at the server level (okay computer level) from the Unix Admin playbook. Same tricks we used back in the day with other Unix distros.

Still I'm sure given enough time the kid could figure out a way around all of it. Especially since the parent is primarily into Macs because he runs a photography studio.

I agree completely with pretty much all of that. There just isn't a way of blocking out absolutely everything. If there was, we wouldn't have these problems. As soon as someone develops some clever way of keeping out hackers etc., someone else comes up with an even more clever way of getting past the last security breakthrough. It's not a case of developing a foolproof piece of software/hardware, it's about staying one step ahead of the people who make the security needed.

[Steven9088 0]

Wow I Never Knew Google Would Be So Dumb! A Little Java Script Causes A Vulnerability! Even At His Age, I Can't Believe It! I Guess I know Why It's Still In BETA Release lol Usually When Someone Discovers This Kind Of Glitch, The Company Which Is Gmail In This Case Tracks The Person Who Discovered This, And Try To Patch The Glitch Together. I Heard You Get Some Reward. I Wonder What It Is.

Edited August 30, 2007 by Steven9088 (see edit history)

[Unregistered 0111405241546 0]

It's very surprising it was found by a teenager. Us teenagers have nothing better to do. I'm only 14 and I know how to do a lot of things on the computer than other people don't. Lol my parents have a hard time checking their email.