A web server set up by an enterprising student for a conference in 2004 and then forgotten about has left the University of Greenwich nursing a £120,000 ($160,000) fine from Britain's Information Commissioner (ICO).
Forgetting about a web server isn't generally a good idea, but this was a particularly dangerous oversight because it had been linked to a database containing the personal data of 19,500 University staff, students, alumni, and conference attendees.
The data also included more intimate personal data of 3,500 people covering learning difficulties, staff sickness, food allergies, and extenuating circumstances put forward by students during their studies.
You can probably guess where this is heading – eventually cybercriminals chanced upon the forgotten server and did their worst.
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 4, Informative) by MostCynical on Friday May 25 2018, @09:06AM
http://www.internetlivestats.com/total-number-of-websites/ [internetlivestats.com]
Many websites are small, especially some of the old ones http://mentalfloss.com/article/53792/17-ancient-abandoned-websites-still-work [mentalfloss.com]
http://www.404pagefound.com/ [404pagefound.com]
With minimal visitors, and therefore low bandwidth, lots of these wouldn't be noticed, even on corporate domains.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex