The loophole exploits a feature of HTML 5 which defines how websites are made and what they can do.
Contents contributed and discussions participated by Gabrijela Vrbnjak
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BBC News - Web code weakness allows data dump on PCs - 0 views
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Developer Feross Aboukhadijeh found the bug and set up a demo page that fills visitors' hard drives with pictures of cartoon cats. In one demo, Mr Aboukhadijeh managed to dump one gigabyte of data every 16 seconds onto a vulnerable Macbook. Clever code Most major browsers, Chrome, Internet Explorer, Opera and Safari, were found to be vulnerable to the bug, said Mr Aboukhadijeh. While most websites are currently built using version 4 of the Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML), that code is gradually being superseded by the newer version 5. One big change brought in with HTML 5 lets websites store more data locally on visitors' PCs. Safeguards built into the "local storage" specification should limit how much data can be stored. Different browsers allow different limits but all allow at least 2.5 megabytes to be stored. However, Mr Aboukhadijeh found a way round this cap by creating lots of temporary websites linked to the one a person actually visited. He found that each one of these associated sites was allowed to store up to the limit of data because browser makers had not written code to stop this happening. By endlessly creating new, linked websites the bug can be used to siphon huge amounts of data onto target PCs. Only Mozilla's Firefox capped storage at 5MB and was not vulnerable, he found. "Cleverly coded websites have effectively unlimited storage space on visitor's computers," wrote Mr Aboukhadijeh in a blogpost about the bug. Code to exploit the bug has been released by Mr Aboukhadijeh and he set up a website, called Filldisk that, on vulnerable PCs, dumps lots of images of cats on to the hard drive. So far, no malicious use of the exploits has been observed. In a bid to solve the problem, bug reports about the exploit have been filed with major browser makers. More on This Story .related-links-list li { position: relative; } .related-links-list .gvl3-icon { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; } Related Stories Firefox smartphone partners revealed 24 FEBRUARY 2013, TECHNOLOGY Flash Player exits Android store 15 AUGUST 2012, TECHNOLOGY HTML 5 target for cybercriminals 02 DECEMBER 2011, TECHNOLOGY $render("page-see-also","ID"); $render("page-newstracker","ID"); Related Internet links Feross Aboukhadijeh The BBC is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites $render("page-related-items","ID"); Share this pageShare this page1.4KShareFacebookTwitter Email Print In association with $render("advert","advert-sponsor-module","page-bookmark-links"); $render("advert-post-script-load"); $render("advert-post-script-load"); More Technology stories RSS Computer glitch hits Mars rover Nasa's Curiosity Mars rover is put into "safe mode" after a computer glitch caused by corrupted files. US plans small-ship drone launches Hackers breach Evernote security $render("advert","advert-mpu-high"); $render("advert-post-script-load"); Top Stories http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/6618
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found the bug and set up a demo page that fills visitors' hard drives with pictures of cartoon cats.
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because browser makers had not written code to stop this happening. By endlessly creating new, linked websites the bug can be used to siphon huge amounts of data onto target PCs.
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Most major browsers, Chrome, Internet Explorer, Opera and Safari, were found to be vulnerable to the bug
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found a way round this cap by creating lots of temporary websites linked to the one a person actually visited
BBC News - Mozilla reveals Firefox smartphone launch partners - 0 views
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City must wake up to digital growth, says tech investor | Business | guardian.co.uk - 0 views
www.guardian.co.uk/...city-wake-up-digital-investor
internet google business investment digitalgrowth economy

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American internet companies like Google and Amazon have walked in and eaten the lunch of the UK in media, in retail, in travel – and they are not going to stop here
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Brain-to-brain interface lets rats share information via internet | Science | The Guardian - 0 views
www.guardian.co.uk/...ts-connected-share-information
internet rats information brain organic computer code encode

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News Science Neuroscience Brain-to-brain interface lets rats share information via internet Rats thousands of miles apart collaborate on simple tasks with their brains connected through the internet Share 9893 inShare61 Email Ian Sample, science correspondent The Guardian, Friday 1 March 2013 jQ(document).ready(function(){ jQ.ajax({ url : 'http://resource.guim.co.uk/global/static/file/discussion/5/fill-comment-counts-swimlaned.js', dataType : 'script', type : 'get', crossDomain : true, cache: true }); }); Jump to comments (449) A rat with a brain-to-brain implant responds to a light (circled) by pressing a lever. Its motor cortex was connected to that of another rat. Photograph: Scientific Reports Scientists have connected the brains of a pair of animals and allowed them to share sensory information
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US team fitted two rats with devices called brain-to-brain interfaces that let the animals collaborate on simple tasks to earn rewards
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experiments showed that we have established a sophisticated, direct communication linkage between brains
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In one radical demonstration of the technology, the scientists used the internet to link the brains of two rats separated
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If the receiving rat failed at the task, the first rat was not rewarded with a drink, and appeared to change its behaviour to make the task easier for its partner.
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you could imagine that a combination of brains could provide solutions that individual brains cannot achieve by themselves
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Very little is known about how thoughts are encoded and how they might be transmitted into another person's brain – so that is not a realistic prospect any time soon