Full Disclosure mailing list archives

Re: interesting?


From: Simon Richter <Simon.Richter () hogyros de>
Date: Sat, 1 Feb 2003 13:54:36 +0100

Hi,

According to the analysis posted to NANOG by a number of
researchers (http://www.caida.org/analysis/security/sapphire/), 
It infected the majority of hosts within the first 10 minutes. 

[...]

This seems important is because it shows that a high rate
of saturation can be achieved among network nodes as
effectively (if not more so) using random distribution, as by 
using a structured or hierarchical distribution strategy. 

Actually, that was what the worm author did. The algorithm generates new
numbers from the current (i.e. it has some sort of knowledge what hosts
have already been infected) plus a not-really-predictable component
(system time, IIRC) plus some sort of counter because the system clock
is so slow.

So what we have witnessed is the structured approach. The question
remains whether the worm author is a maths wizard or just plain lucky.

   Simon

-- 
GPG Fingerprint: 040E B5F7 84F1 4FBC CEAD  ADC6 18A0 CC8D 5706 A4B4

Attachment: _bin
Description:


Current thread: