Re: Ethical DDoS drone network

[Roland Dobbins <rdobbins () cisco com>]

On Jan 5, 2009, at 3:04 PM, Patrick W. Gilmore wrote:

> I can think of several instances where it _must_ be external.  For  
> instance, as I said before, knowing which intermediate networks are  
> incapable of handling the additional load is useful information.

AUPs are a big issue, here..

> Without arguing that point (and there are lots of scenarios where  
> that is not at all necessary, IMHO), it does not change the fact  
> that external testing can be extremely useful after "air-gap" testing.

Agree completely.

> You live in a very structured world.

The idea is to instantiate structure in order to reduce the chaos.

;>

>  Most people live in reality-land where there are too many variables  
> to control, and not only is it impossible guarantee that everything  
> involved is strict to BCP, but the opposite is almost certainly true.

Nothing's perfect, but one must do the basics before moving on to more  
advanced things.  The low-hanging fruit, as it were (and of course,  
this is where scale becomes a major obstacle, in many cases; the fruit  
may be hanging low to the ground, but there can be a *lot* of it to  
pick).

> Remember, systems do not work in isolation, and when you touch other  
> networks, weird things happen.

One ought to get one's own house in order first, prior to looking at  
externalities.  Agree with you 100% that they're important, but one  
must do what one can within one's own span of control, first.

> Here we agree: Entertainment has (should have?) nothing to do with it.


Implementing BCPs is drudgery; because of this, it often receives  
short shrift.

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Roland Dobbins <rdobbins () cisco com> // +852.9133.2844 mobile

     All behavior is economic in motivation and/or consequence.