Full Disclosure mailing list archives
Re: The worm author finally revealed!
From: madsaxon <madsaxon () direcway com>
Date: Fri, 31 Jan 2003 13:52:49 -0600
Backing the patches out didn't do a thing, so now we have to return all the way to SP2, reinstall HEAT and then patch back to the level right *before* the one that took it down. You can just imagine how thrilled the admins are to have to do that - and the next time they have to patch that box, they'll be real leery about doing it. And these are admins who are *very* conscientious about patching and *very* aware of security issues.
That happens where I work, too. Every new patch breaks something else, and since a fair amount of our software is custom-designed, we have to get the vendors to rush out and figure out how to patch their stuff to be compatible with the new patch. That costs beaucoup bucks, and meanwhile our clients are screaming because their application is down. The next time a patch comes out, management is very reluctant to allow us to install it, so we have to do a cost-benefit analysis on which would be the greaterevil: leaving the vulnerability unpatched or pissing off our clients with yet another period of downtime. If we don't patch, we get called "irresponsible" and "lazy."
If we do patch, we further erode client confidence in our ability to maintain quality of service. I personally argued strongly against Microsoft servers in the first place,but of course that was pooh-poohed as just sour grapes from an old Unix fossil.
This is not a black and white issue with cut and dried solutions. That's not to say, however, that we shouldn't nevertheless continue looking for them. m5x _______________________________________________ Full-Disclosure - We believe in it. Charter: http://lists.netsys.com/full-disclosure-charter.html
Current thread:
- Re: The worm author finally revealed!, (continued)
- Re: The worm author finally revealed! HggdH (Jan 31)
- Re: The worm author finally revealed! Mark Renouf (Jan 31)
- Re: The worm author finally revealed! Paul Schmehl (Jan 31)
- Re: The worm author finally revealed! Ron DuFresne (Jan 31)
- Re: The worm author finally revealed! David Howe (Jan 31)
- Re: The worm author finally revealed! Paul Schmehl (Jan 31)
- Re: The worm author finally revealed! Ron DuFresne (Jan 31)
- Re: The worm author finally revealed! yossarian (Jan 31)
- Re: The worm author finally revealed! Ron DuFresne (Jan 31)
- Re: The worm author finally revealed! Paul Schmehl (Jan 31)
- Re: The worm author finally revealed! madsaxon (Jan 31)
- Re: The worm author finally revealed! Paul Schmehl (Jan 31)