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Comments on: Coding errors expose hidden area of BT site

Perhaps ... 

Posted Tuesday 2nd October 2007 13:11 GMT

Perhaps they've hidden them because there's nothing worth seeing there.

Of much more interest is that if you find the appropriate page for reporting web page errors anywhere, it insists you enter the telephone number of "the service you're having problems with".

That's right, it wants the telephone number of the web page, not its URL.

Which might not be too bad, except that it also insists on checking that the number you enter is a valid telephone number, so you can't report an error on a web page that doesn't have a telephone number.

no surprise 

Posted Tuesday 2nd October 2007 13:34 GMT

BT is quite a company to do any work for. I was the tech lead on a project a little while ago and like any lumbering, ignorant behemoth, the techies are generally very good but the muppets with manager in their job title are clueless wanting everything now and then wanting it all different in 5 minutes.

This leads to making things easy to get to and change, so lax security is not far around any corner!

Last time BT did this... 

Posted Tuesday 2nd October 2007 14:03 GMT

Well maybe not last time, as it was 7 years ago and I'm sure it has happened to them since. But back then they left a database of customer details on an open server assuming that nobody would notice it, and therefore it was safe. I know because my details were stolen from the server.

Less than a week after that, I had a call from BT trying to sell me online security services!

I found the calculator on Google 

Posted Tuesday 2nd October 2007 14:05 GMT

BT didn't seem to want me to know their prices so I tried Google and found the hidden area had been indexed.

Not terribly well hidden when that happens.

If you're close enough to read this... 

Posted Tuesday 2nd October 2007 14:23 GMT

BT have just got more free advertising.

Also Here Too.... 

Posted Tuesday 2nd October 2007 14:36 GMT

It's also here too...

http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displayTopic.do;JSESSIONID_ecommerce=GqXTBjQpvN5fw4CVb4nXVHQx17z4SrzycZ6Jhq8d9NGmv0dP2Fls!-1154117?topicId=19623

Lorem 

Posted Tuesday 2nd October 2007 15:34 GMT

Psh! "Text in Latin" indeed.. It's Lorem Impsum - placeholder gibberish. (Easily distinguishable from the rest of BT's site by... erm... um... nevermind.)

Oh dear, looks like the site admins go home at lunchtime 

Posted Tuesday 2nd October 2007 17:21 GMT

It's 6:20pm as I check the site, and all the mentioned holey parts of the web site are still there.

Not very impressive!

All from the company... 

Posted Tuesday 2nd October 2007 17:54 GMT

... that says don't run IT systems yourself, let BT do it for you. Or something along those lines according to Gordon Ramsey.

If they did this to his website, I'm sure a number of expletives might pass his lips.

speaking of badly coded pages... 

Posted Tuesday 2nd October 2007 20:31 GMT

what's going on with this comments page...

@Gareth 

Posted Wednesday 3rd October 2007 11:38 GMT

"Contrary to popular belief, Lorem Ipsum is not simply random text. It has roots in a piece of classical Latin literature from 45 BC, making it over 2000 years old."

http://lipsum.com/