furor over Cisco IOS router exploit erupts at Black Hat

[Scott Genung <sagenung () ILSTU EDU>]

All,

I just read this article. Based upon Cisco's reaction, I'm rather concerned
about this material that has been shared with the hacker community. I have
asked my account manager if Cisco will be releasing to it's customer base
what vulnerabilities we need to be aware of to defend our infrastructure.
It could be a very interesting fall semester.

> Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2005 12:18:59 -0500
> From: NW Cisco News Alert <CiscoAlert () nwfnews com>
> Subject: Cisco News Alert Special Issue: Furor over Cisco IOS router exploit
>  erupts at Black Hat
>
> _______________________________________________________________
> Furor over Cisco IOS router exploit erupts at Black Hat
> By Ellen Messmer, Network World, 07/28/05
>
> Although Cisco and Internet Security Systems had abruptly cancelled
> a planned technical talk and demo at the Black Hat Conference to
> reveal how unpatched Cisco routers can be remotely compromised,
> the researcher who had originally uncovered the problem went ahead
> with the talk anyway, igniting a spate of lawsuits against himself
> and the Black Hat Conference.
>
> Michael Lynn, the research analyst at ISS who was asked to resign
> after his presentation detailing how an attacker can exploit flaws
> in unpatched Cisco routers to gain total control over them, said
> he felt compelled to reveal the information because "I felt I had
> to do what's right for the country and the national infrastructure."
>
> Cisco and ISS, claiming it was premature to release the research,
> saw it differently and immediately filed a lawsuit aimed at
> compelling him not to discuss the subject further. The Black Hat
> Conference was also served with a lawsuit by the two companies for
> allowing Lynn to discuss the exploits associated with Cisco routers.
>
> Full story:
> http://www.networkworld.com/news/2005/072805-cisco-black-hat.html?nl


Scott Genung
Manager of Networking Systems
Telecommunications and Networking
Illinois State University
124 Julian Hall
Normal, IL 61790-3500

sagenung () ilstu edu
Phone: (309)438-7258
Web: http://www.tel.ilstu.edu