How Software Default Options can Become Dangerous

How Software Default Options can Become Dangerous

In software, a default option refers to a predetermined choice that is automatically used by a program or system unless the user selects an alternative option.

For example, when installing software on a computer, there are usually default options set for things like the installation location, language settings, and other program-specific settings. If a user does not explicitly change these default options, the program will automatically proceed with the pre-selected settings.

Default options are used to simplify and speed up the process of using software for the user, but they can also lead to unintentional choices if the user is not aware of the default settings. This is the story of how a company chose the wrong default option for their product and caused digital hell.

Open a new tab in your browser and type “what is my IP”. Google will return you a number. That number is your IP (Internet Protocol) and is a unique number that has been assigned to your device. Every computer, mobile phone, car, microwave and anything connected to the Internet has such a number assigned. It is calculated that there are billions such numbers. But how can an IP address cause digital hell to someone? keep reading…

The year is 2011, Kansa USA. Mrs Taylor lives at her remote farmhouse with no Internet connection. Her grandchildren try to convince her get Internet connection so they can communicate more often but she refuses.

Someone knocks the door of Mrs. Taylor farmhouse. She rarely has visits at her remote house besides her relatives. The visitor is a concerned mother and she is looking for her kids. Of course Mrs. Taylor had no idea what she was talking about. “But they told me online that my kids will be here” replies the disappointed mother.

After some days the someone else is at Mrs. Taylor’s door. This time two official men, tax collectors that they insist that the person they are looking for is there. Eventually they live and Mrs. Taylor is even more concerned.

The visits continue over the next days. In fact some people are not messing around and Mrs. Taylor calls the local sheriff for help. The sheriff tries to keep the visits away with a sign but with no particular success. The issue escalates and the police starts investigations.

After lots of investigations the police discovers that the problem is with the company MaxMind. Founded in 1999, MaxMind was a hosting provider with a range of solutions. One of the solutions they offered, was to match IP addresses with real addresses. Let’s say for example that a company wanted to sue someone but they only had the IP address of that person. MaxMind could provide them the physical address of that person to send them a letter of intent.

However, MaxMind’s algorithm that matched IP addresses with real addresses had an issue. A big one. Every time it could not find a match, it would return the default option. I suppose you guessed it right, the algorithm returned Mrs Taylor’s address! It is estimated that Mrs Taylor’s farmhouse was matched with over 600 million IP addresses.

The company MaxMind corrected their mistake and the default option is now at sea. Mrs Taylor could relax and enjoy her quite time again. She still doesn’t have an Internet connection and maybe she is right after all.

The moral of the story is that default options in software can have a significant impact on the way the software works, so it is important to choose them carefully.

One important factor is the target audience for the software. For example, if the software is designed for children, then the default options should be safe and easy to use. If the software is designed for professionals, then the default options should be more powerful and customizable.

Another important factor to consider is the purpose of the software. For example, if the software is designed for creating documents, then the default options should be set up to create documents in a professional format. If the software is designed for playing games, then the default options should be set up to provide a fun and challenging experience.

Finally, it is important to consider how likely are default options to be used. In MaxMind’s case there was rather big change that the default option could be chosen. MaxMind had to be more careful and consider this option.