More security gaffes: this time, Housebites
London start-up Housebites is the latest start-up to fall foul of avoidable and costly security blunders.
What is it with London start-ups and head-in-hands stupid security blunders, embarrassing oversights and unforced public relations errors? Today it’s Housebites, who as we go to press probably don’t realise that there are live, seemingly infinitely reusable beta access codes sitting on a publicly accessible page on its website. Act quickly and you can probably use them to skip the wait for an invitation to their new “Fresh” product and get a free box of food. (We just did.)
It’s a shame, really, because I rather like the idea of their latest wheeze – sending you the ingredients and a cheat sheet so you can knock up a meal yourself. I like it almost as much as their last product: dirty dishes to go along with the food you ordered to make it look like you cooked yourself.
But with such ham-fisted boobs, you do have to ask how much time their CTO is spending making sure his house is in order. Perhaps he’s too busy whipping up a plate of sea bass with puy lentils and gremolata (whatever that is) that I’m told Housebites Fresh will offer wannabe home cooks.
London founders and their technical teams need to wise up. Because with the new generation of proper journalists backed by technical wizards starting to pay attention to this sector and checking over new products with a fine tooth comb, the embarrassments are going to start coming thick and fast.
In the meantime, if you fancy bypassing the wait for Housebites Fresh, follow the link above. Housebites has now deleted the offending page, but here’s a copy we took (click for full size):
