RE: Extreme Hacking

[sean.kelly () lanston com]

> From: George Jones [mailto:gjones () lab fcnbd com]
>
> The skills needed to break in and the skills needed to build effective
> systems to prevent breakins are different.  I wouldn't hire delinquent
> teenagers to design my home security system, bank vaults, or
> information security architectures, but I'm pretty sure that some of
> them are good at breaking windows, perpetrating holdups, and running
> scripts.

See what i said in another post.  I wouldn't hire delinquents to build my
security system either, but I might hire a very talented thief (someone who
makes a living of breaking into high-security areas like banks, museums, the
federal reserve, whatever).  I don't consider script-kiddies (your
delinquents) to be people who know how to break into computers.  I consider
people who discovered the vulnerabilities in the first place to be people
who know how to break into computers (my talented, professional thieves).

> > > Am I the only person who has a problem with the idea of someone
> > > teaching hacking techniques? Sometimes I think I am.
>
> The one that got me recently was the hyprocacy of the Clinton
> administration (I think it was Bill himself) announcing that the US
> government was going to, among other things, launch a hacking campaign
> against international financial institutions to try to drain the bank
> accounts of Slobodan Milosovic...what would the rhetoric be if some
> disgruntled Serbians, Afgans or Whitewater investors tried the same
> against him?

It's a load of crap.  Clinton doen't know any more about the internet or
computers than Gore, which is appallingly little.  It also doesn't surprise
me that he would be stupid enough to actually say such a thing to the press
-- it's par for the course for him.  If this were even a consideration, it
would have been initiated by the CIA or some such group and kept quiet.  I
can't even think of a political reason to say that you were going to do such
a thing -- did he possibly think he could scare Milosevic with such a
statement?  I won't get into the Serbian situation, but the war was handled
incredibly poorly from the beginning -- Clinton's statement was just one in
a long string of ignorance-driven and unintelligent statements, maneuvers,
decisions, and assessments during the campaign.

-Sean

as always, what I say is not representative of any opinion but my own, blah
blah blah...