http://www.gnucitizen.org/blog/snoop-onto-them-as-they-snoop-onto-us
This is not that of a news since the service is available since January this year, however I cannot see that many people discussing it. Anyway, Google allows consummation of SearchHistory profiles as simple RSS/ATOM feeds. IMHO, this will impact the security and privacy of the users (us) quite significantly. [...] The search history feed can be access from the following url: http://www.google.com/history/?output=rss. The interesting thing is that if your are not authenticated, the Google service will ask you to do so but though HTTP Basic Authentication. Now we all know how weak Basic Authentication is. By default, basic auth does not have any account lockout capabilities. Yes, this feature can be introduced and I haven't really tested it out on the Google's SearchHistory feed interface. Apart from that, the real danger is that if someone has your account details, they could potentially become your invisible stalker. "Snoop onto Them as they Snoop onto us". In the digital age, compromising someones email just for the sake of it does not make sense. What is more interesting, is to learn as much as possible from the victim and use this knowledge for your own benefit. This is what attackers will be after. Relevant searches, places that you have been, stats, trends, secrets. If you have the Google Toolbar then you are even more screwed, since every step that you make will be recorded. Given the fact that everything is accessed via RSS, this information be easily analyzed, aggregated and even exported to the NET for everyone to see. As we all know Basic Auth credentials are part of the URL scheme, almost every RSS/ATOM aggregator supports them: http://username:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/history/?output=rss. What is even worse is that we can also perform queries on the history like this: https://www.google.com/searchhistory/find?q=[query]&output=rss. Keep in mind that the SearchHistory is recording your moves no matter whether you want it or not. Your actions will be recorded for as long as you perform queries while being logged into Google or you have the Google Browser Toolbar installed. I am not saying that GOOGLE is bad. All I am saying is that someone can use this interface to harm others. It makes the process so much easier. -- pdp (architect) | petko d. petkov http://www.gnucitizen.org _______________________________________________ Full-Disclosure - We believe in it. Charter: http://lists.grok.org.uk/full-disclosure-charter.html Hosted and sponsored by Secunia - http://secunia.com/
