Little Bobby Tables

Little Bobby Tables is the nickname of a character from xkcd, a webcomic by Randall Munroe.

The character represents a cautionary tale about the importance of sanitizing user inputs, in this case against SQL injection attacks.

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School: Hi, this is your son's school. We're having some computer trouble.

Mom: Oh, dear -- Did he break something?

School: In a way. Did you really name your son Robert'); DROP TABLE Students; --?

Mom: Oh. Yes. Little Bobby Tables we call him.

School: Well, we've lost this year's student records. I hope you're happy.

Mom: And I hope you've learned to sanitize your database inputs.

Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;

In the comic, the school has entered Robert'); DROP TABLE Students; into the database, resulting in the deletion of all student records.

It's worth repeating several times: sanitize your database inputs.

Other kinds of inputs exist, requiring their own security techniques.

Sanitize all your inputs, whatever the purpose.