YouTube has a little local difficulty in Arabia

Cache from chaos

By John Leyden • Get more from this author

Posted in Security, 24th April 2008 10:10 GMT

A security snafu on YouTube allowed users in the UAE to view the account pages and preferences of other users.

The bug also created a means to jump into Gmail in cases where surfers had linked their YouTube and Gmail accounts.

The issue appeared to only crop up locally, within the UAE, and only for users of the Etisalat internet service, one of two local ISPs. Users signing onto their accounts are able to see the "My videos", "Contacts", "Favourites" and other menus of other users, ArabianBusiness.com reports.

The security snafu was replicated by the editorial teams of both itp.net and Windows Arabic magazine. The cause of the problem is unclear, although speculation suggests index pages may have been cached by Etisalat before being served up in error to the wrong parties.

Etisalat is yet to comment on the reported problem, which remained live on Wednesday, ArabianBusiness.com adds. ®

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