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From: dewey@execu.UUCP (Dewey Henize)
Newsgroups: news.admin,news.sysadmin
Subject: Re: A *Big* Thank You
Message-ID: <368@execu.UUCP>
Date: 7 Nov 88 21:58:06 GMT
References: <361@itivax.UUCP> <367@execu.UUCP> <1294@tmpmbx.UUCP>
Reply-To: dewey@execu.UUCP (Dewey Henize)
Followup-To: alt.flame
Organization: Home for Recalcitrant Hackers
Lines: 75

In article <1294@tmpmbx.UUCP> pengo@tmpmbx.UUCP (Hans H. Huebner) writes:
>In article <367@execu.UUCP> dewey@execu.UUCP (Dewey Henize[me]) writes:
>>On the next area of consideration, who's gonna get hold of the bastard
>>that caused this and beat the shit out of him?  Having a daddy that's a 
>>supposedly high security muckety-much should, if anything, imply that the
>>[censored] should know a lot better...  And its not like the law is gonna
>>do much, the isn't even a clear picture of what laws are broken by ruining
>>the days of hundreds or thousands of people..

>Maybe you should better thank this guy as well, since he revealed some
>nasty bugs in widespread operating systems.  He SURELY showed everyone that
>computer systems are not secure, and that security IS a thing one has to be
>aware of.  Just imagine what would have happened if the worm/virus had
>contained some nasty code to destroy files or the like.  The sendmail bug
>certainly gave the worm access rights to destroy mail and eventually other
>vital system information.
>[...]
>
>Let's be happy that it is over, and that the Internet is now more secure.
>
>	Hans
>
>-- 
>Hans H. Huebner, netmbx     | PSIMail: PSI%026245300043100::PENGO


Hans, you're a much nicer guy than I am.  I learned a long time ago that to
be secure, you close your system off from the outside world, otherwise you
cannot be really secure.  Sorry, this didn't really do much in anything like
a nice way.

Yes, there are holes - and I'll bet you that while these get patched pretty
darned quickly, there will be more and more as time goes on.  So?  Does that
mean to you the best way to aid security is to waste thousands of hours of
other people?  I doubt you mean that.

Think this through.  If this clown had really been even remotely inclined to
do anything resembling help people, there are literally hundreds of other
scenarios that he could have chosen.

I know that if someone really wants to, they can go into the parking area here
and slash a few hundred tires.  We don't have 24 hour a day security, because
most responsible people know better, and a large part of what's left are also
aware that doing it and getting caught will do bad things to their personal
wealth, freedom, and possibly health.  Yes, a few people in the world do that
kind of thing - we call them criminals or outlaws, not 'hackers'.  I still
feel that this kind of person, whether they do it with programs or do it with
other impliments, is maliciously damaging other people's property.  And that
it is WRONG for it to be blown off with 'Well, gee, now we know about that'.

If we are lucky, Morris will be sued to the point that his personal fortune
will be totally taken from him and he will be blackballed from anything 
even resembling a responsible job for the rest of his life.  And also we can
hope that this punishment will be widely publicizes such that the very large
number of people that think this kind of thing is a fun thing to try will
have major second thoughts.

This won't stop it, no, I recognise that.  It WILL cut it down a lot, though,
and will give the people who do try to limit this kind of damage a fighting
chance.  This thing wasn't a one-night, 'gee, wonder if this would work' 
episode - it simply wasn't spur of the moment or impulsive.  It was a deliberate
attempt to cause great disruption, MAYBE more than he intended but definately
an attempt to misuse the implied trust of a widely cooperating community.  He
basically showed that he's not interested in being a part of that community
as far as his responsibility to it is concerned - the only part he wants is
the support to him.

Followups to alt.flame, please.

Dewey Henize

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| There is nothing in the above message that can't be explained by sunspots.  |
|                   execu!dewey             Dewey Henize                      |
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