So I need a USB cable- a long one as I’ve bought a printer and my old parallel (Centronics) cable is no use. So I visit the Maplin website. Find a USB cable, add it to the checkout, go to register an account and after doing so get this helpful error message when registering.

“XML_CreateCustomer err(X1) occurred. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

Ah bless. So- lets try live support. I enter this :

Trying to register to make a purchase.
I get this ‘helpful’ error!
XML_CreateCustomer err(X1) occurred. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

and get this
Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server error ‘80040e14’
Line 2: Incorrect syntax near ‘helpful’.
/chat.asp, line 111

Looks like a SQL Injection error- the quotes round helpful aren’t correctly handled. That’s very dangerous, though its possibly only a chat database. If I was malicious, I could have some ‘Get into Jail Real Quick’ fun but I won’t.

Hint to Maplin. Get your website fixed quick, and add some helpful errors!