"To address the issue, Ray needed a production database connection string - code that includes the name and address of a database, plus credentials to log onto it. He therefore copied the string into his configuration file and spent a few hours fixing the problem. "I quickly checked in my changes and headed out," he told Who, Me? Checking in those changes meant the major corporation's source control tools added his bug fix to its code base and default base configuration."
"He thought nothing of it until a few days later a former colleague from the major corporation called. Someone had used Ray's code and mistakenly used it to delete a database table, crippling an app that relied on it. Readers may be wondering why we used the epithet "major corporation" so many times in this story. We did to prepare you for the impact of that table deletion: 350,000 users could not access an app they relied on."
Ray reached the end of a temporary contract at a major corporation but agreed to return for one extra day to troubleshoot a production issue. He needed a production database connection string and copied it into his configuration file to fix the problem, then checked in the changes. The corporation's source control merged the fix and default configuration, exposing the production connection string to others who used that code. A colleague later used the code and accidentally deleted a database table, crippling an app and leaving 350,000 users unable to access it for a workday. Backups restored service; Ray was no longer employed there.
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