Description
When trying to keep information confidential, an attacker can often infer some of the information by using statistics.
In situations where data should not be tied to individual users, but a large number of users should be able to make queries that “scrub” the identity of users, it may be possible to get information about a user — e.g., by specifying search terms that are known to be unique to that user.
Modes of Introduction:
– Architecture and Design
Likelihood of Exploit: Medium
Related Weaknesses
Consequences
Confidentiality: Read Files or Directories, Read Application Data
Sensitive information may possibly be leaked through data queries accidentally.
Potential Mitigations
Phase: Architecture and Design
Description:
This is a complex topic. See the book Translucent Databases for a good discussion of best practices.