Vulnerable Short URLs?

Cornell Tech researchers Vitaly Shmatikov and Martin Georgiev claim web URL shorteners are built on predictable syntax that can be searched and identified in a potential breach of privacy.

The academics studied URL shorteners – including those created by Google, Bit.ly and Microsoft – finding that attackers could find private documents and foist malware by enumerating pre-existing addresses with ease, and that well-resourced adversaries could find out existing URLs of all shortening services.…