Re: Indian hacker turns cyber cop

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

Forwarded from: rferrell () texas net

> To the majority, it may not have meant much, but to 16-year-old
> Ankit Fadia sitting in front of his PC in the Indian capital Delhi
> it was a "Denial of Service" attack - someone somewhere was trying
> to hack into a website.

This is journalistic FUD.  DOS is not an intrusion, it's just an
overload of an existing network service.

> Within seconds, he had managed to track the location of the sender -
> from somewhere in Pakistan. Minutes later he had also found the
> target of attack - the website of a top Indian firm.

If it was that easy, odds are it wasn't a serious attack.  Probably a
particularly clueless script kiddie; maybe even a defective network
card or buggy software.

> They were soon alerted and a major hack was averted.

Unless the DOS was the "artillery barrage" preceding an intrusion
attempt, I don't see how this statement makes any sense.  There's not
a lot you can do about DOS in the current Internet architecture.  The
most effective measures require the cooperation of upstream providers
and good 'router hygiene.'

> "It was my first anti-hacking operation and it was successful," says
> Ankit, who was only 10 days into a job as an intelligence consultant
> with a US Government agency when he saved this website.

1) Who told you he worked for a "US Government agency?"  We don't
   routinely hire 16 year olds, no matter what they claim to know.

2) Why would anyone, even the US government, hire someone as a 
   'consultant' who had never conducted an 'anti-hacking operation' 
   before? Consultants are supposed to be widely experienced, with 
   years of professional exposure in a given field.  

3) It seems to me this kid needs to be working for the Indian 
   government, if he's going to work for anyone. 

4) Cops, cyber or otherwise, are law enforcement officers.  
   This is a precocious child. 
 
RGF

Robert G. Ferrell
rferrell () texas net



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