Tuesday, January 12, 2010

XSSing Bob: At least GoDaddy got this one right

Fair warning: This posting has a social agenda, born of my views, and will likely spark discussion. Flame all you want, but no anonymous comments accepted for this one.

I'll come right out and say it. I'm not a GoDaddy fan...at all.
I've long shared Fyodor's perspective (NoDaddy.com) and as a SecLists/nmap loyalist must swear my fealty.
And don't get me wrong, I appreciate beautiful women as much as the next guy, but they're people, not things. The level of objectification that Bob Parsons and GoDaddy have maintained during their relentless ad campaign (ramping up again for football season) is sadly archaic, exploitative, and not in keeping with a modern mindset I've hoped would be embraced more broadly.

I know I am in the minority. This is simply my opinion; I'm sure that vast majority of men who read this blog will fervently disagree with me. So be it, I honor your choices, may this free country remain ever so.

But I hate it. Women aren't objects. Believe me, I've been guilty of thinking and acting otherwise, but damn it, I'm trying. In my world women are wives and daughters, peers and managers, teachers and friends; all worthy of respect.
So when the latest GoDaddy ad harshed my football mellow this past weekend during the defensive debacle that was the Packers/Cardinals game, I found myself pissed.
Ask McAfee, neglectful credit card companies, and lame online providers what happens when I get pissed.
Yep, I got all huffy and went looking for web application issues to use to further my point.
Bobparsons.me coughed up easy fodder in short order.



Then my conscience got the best of me, and I reported the issue immediately via privacy at bobparsons.me.
I always take this step with low expectations, but was rewarded with a rapid and thoughtful response.
I reported the issue at 1910 hours, 11 January and received a call from the CISO himself, Neil Warner, who left me a VM indicating that the issue had been received, validated, and repaired by the security and development teams, all before 1200 12 January; less than 24 hours. Impressive to say the least.

So, while I heartily disagree with GoDaddy marketing tactics and shake my head when I read the endless stream of horror stories on NoDaddy, I must applaud Neil and his team for a job well done. He even used the term "human IDS." ;-)
Nicely done, Neil, nicely done.

Cheers.

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5 comments:

Rasmus said...

I just reported another security hole. Let's see if they respond quickly to a second one or if yours was a fluke.

Laura said...

Great to see a post about a company doing some good!

Ron said...

Thank you for saying what I've been thinking for a long time -- the whole objectification of women thing by godaddy is pathetic.

Rasmus said...

30+ hours later, I didn't hear anything back from them, but they did fix the issue I reported.

Russ McRee said...

@Rasmus: Thanks for taking the right approach, glad they fixed it quickly.

@Ron: Thanks for sharing your perspective, well said. Nice to meet another SANS GPEN fan ;-)

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