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8.0

Methods to prevent URL Tampering

Asked by cracky in PHP and Databases

Tags: url querystring php mysql

I am interested to find out how some of you protect your data from URL tampering, specifically ID guessing.

For example, let's say we have a set of clients who each have pages linked from a forwarding URL. Something like:

example.com/goto/8758

Obviously, the integer at the end is the identifier which redirects to the client's page. While this page is public and not exactly a secret, a particularly nosy user could just enter numbers at random or in a sequence to get a list of clients. The main concern is that having easily sequenced or guessed IDs makes it easy for a competitor to compile a list of your clients and target them for whatever purpose they choose.

To the question: How would you seek to prevent this?

I've thought about using a hash field like so:

example.com/goto/8758/js8rhlf9

Significantly reducing any blind attempts. Is this worth the data bloat? I'd like a solution that doesn't require very long strings, like UUID() or md5 of a date for example.

Points will be allocated to the best ideas worthy of production.

Thanks :)
[+][-]03/27/09 02:07 AM, ID: 23999008Accepted Solution

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About this solution

Zone: PHP and Databases
Tags: url querystring php mysql
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Solution Provided By: shobinsun
Participating Experts: 1
Solution Grade: A
 
[+][-]03/27/09 03:01 AM, ID: 23999272Author Comment

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[+][-]03/27/09 03:05 AM, ID: 23999290Author Comment

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[+][-]03/27/09 03:21 AM, ID: 23999379Expert Comment

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[+][-]04/01/09 08:51 PM, ID: 24046228Author Comment

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