Diagnosis: TMI Syndrome; Patient: Your Web App

By design, Web applications are set up to process and present information, generally without the installation of any custom software on the user’s system. All the user needs to view information is a browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox. With the current generation of Web application technologies (Web 2.0), Web pages no longer are plain vanilla and static but instead are rich user interfaces that are dynamic. Information is no longer merely presented but can now be interacted with per the user’s personal interests.

Herein lies the problem. If presenting the information is not properly protected, Web applications can suffer from TMI Syndrome (TMIS). TMI, an abbreviation for Too Much Information, according to Wikipedia is a slang expression indicating that someone has divulged too much personal information and made the listener uncomfortable. When Web applications suffer from TMI Syndrome, they divulge more information than is necessary, unsolicited or otherwise. Read entire article on TMI Syndrome in Web Applications – Here

A related Yahoo Video on Hackers targeting social networks.