Re: 0day: PDF pwns Windows

[Gadi Evron <ge () linuxbox org>]

On Tue, 25 Sep 2007, Jason wrote:
> You present a valid position but fall short of seeing the whole picture.
>
> As an attacker, nation state or otherwise, my goal being to cripple
> communications, 0day is the way to go. Resource exhaustion takes
> resources, something the 0day can deprive the enemy of.
>
> Knocking out infrastructure with attacks is a far more effective
> strategy. You can control it's timing, launch it with minimal resources,
> from anywhere, coordinate it, and be gone before it can be thwarted. The
> botnet would only serve as cover while the real attack happens.
>
> I am more inclined to believe that botnets in use today really only
> serve as cover, thuggish retribution, and extortion tools, not as
> effective tools of warfare. No real warfare threat would risk exposing
> themselves through the use of or construction of a botnet.

There is a difference between Sun Tsu-like stealth and civil war-like 
"throw bodies at it".

I quite agree 0days would be important tools, but not necessarily the only 
tool. Then, it would only be a fascilitating technology. A known 
vulnerability is also useful in many cases.

About botnets, they are at the very heart of the matter--not necessarily 
for being used in this fashion, but rather because the Internet is perfect 
for plausible deniability, and then, of course, there is the matter of a 
/fifth column/, inside your network.

        Gadi.


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