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database error exposes 1,700 kids - expert source
February 2016 by
A recent database error with uKnowKids.com exposed sensitive information (including full names, email addresses, text messages, images, social media account details, GPS coordinates, and more) on approximately 1,700 kids, as well as the company’s IP, according to a recent statement by the company’s CEO, Steve Woda. The database exposure was discovered after being online for 48 days by security researcher Chris Vickery.
uKnowKids.com is an online service that helps parents monitor and quickly analyze their child’s social networking and mobile phone activity, profiles, friends, and more. According to CSOonline (who appears to have broke the news), "On Monday, it was disclosed that the child monitoring service had a misconfigured MongoDB installation, which left sensitive details about the children who were enrolled exposed for months.”
Dodi Glenn, vice president of cyber security at PC Pitstop says, “This is certainly becoming a trend – where information about children is being compromised. I think that UKnowKids.com was a little late on disclosing the breach, which is/was concerning, since I’m sure there are parents out there who do not want their children’s’ personal information and pictures out on the Internet for everyone to see.”
“Also, what’s interesting is Woda (uKnowKids CEO) suggesting that anyone reporting on the breach might have liability under COPPA. Companies should be treating security researchers with respect, viewing them as an extension of their own IT department. They need to realize that these individuals aren’t trying to do anything malicious with their knowledge – they shouldn’t be threatened with lawsuits or the authorities being called on them. If a good guy can discover a hole, so can the bad guys.”
