RE: Pentester convicted..

["Mike Wright" <mike.wright () gmail com>]

These analogies are all off. This person didn't "happen to lean up against a
door." This person chose a store, and *purposefully* pushed against the door
and jiggled its door handle and checked to see if the windows were locked.
Then, when he found an open window, he ENTERED the store.

When people go look for and find security problems, they target their
searches. Finding security flaws in someone else's computer network is
almost never an accident. If this security pro found a flaw, he should have
been AUTHORIZED in the first place to look for the flaw. In short, he was
irresponsible and deserves to be prosecuted for accessing other systems
without authorization.

-----Original Message-----
From: Ian Scott [mailto:ian () pairowoodies com] 
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2006 11:11 PM
To: pen-test () securityfocus com
Subject: Re: Pentester convicted..

So, one night, I'm taking a stroll along main street in my town.  I stop for
a 
rest, and happen to lean up against the front door of a store.

I notice the door gives a little bit - and out of curiousity and concern,
push 
a little harder.

The door opens.

I immediately stop what I am doing, and notify the owners and the
authorities 
that the premises are insecure.

By the absolute legal definition, I have indeed "broke and entered" the 
premises.

Where the hell is motive in all of this?  I think that unless there was
motive 
to do some harm, this conviction is utterly ridiculous.

That's my quickie opinion on the matter.

Best,

Ian Scott

On May 10, 2006 10:20 am, William Hancock wrote:
> Hey there pen-testers, take this with a grain of salt, it just got me
> excited.  I am really interested in everyones opinion on the matter or
> corporate responsibility and ownership.
>
> <RANT>
> In an article posted to slashdot today
> (http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/05/10/112259&from=rss) a man
> has been convicted of hacking when he casually and helpfully reported a
> security vulnerability to the owners of a web site, in this case The
> University of Southern California.  It reads like it was some sort of
> simple SQL injection and upon gleaning the information he reported it.
>
> What are we to do as a community I ask?  We should we, the good guys,
> who are paid for our knowledge and ability to exploit mistakes,
> oversights, and weaknesses then professionally report them to aid in the
> securing of information capital (or anyone who reports the flaw for that
> matter) worry about prosecution.  It lends itself to a forcing the
> technical community to sit on their laurels and wait for the people who
> don't report issues to exploit them.  Further it sounds very clear that
> had he not notified them, they would have never known.
>
> A security pro notices a flaw, checks to make sure he is not on crack by
> 'flipping a bit', deems the threat viable and is likely to be exploited,
> notifies the owners, then get arrested and charged with unauthorized
> access.  We, as a or even The security community, should push
> corporations, governments, and organized body's to take responsibility
> and ownership of their problems.  If they publish a site that is flawed
> or exposing information then they are authorizing the retrieval of that
> information.  I'm not advocating that they laws should allow any jerk to
> try and brute his or her way in to a public or private web site, but
> come on.
>
> If someone leaves their wallet in the park with no guard or protection,
> I pick it up and bring it back to the owner, the owner didn't want me to
> have it but I brought it back to him.  Why in the hell should I have to
> go to jail for returning it to him, why should I/we be punished for
> doing the right thing?
>
> I acknowledge this to be a rant but there must but some way to insist
> that when people make something available to the public that it is their
> responsibility to safeguard it and appreciate not persecute someone who
> let's them know (for free I might add) that a weakness exists.  This is
> simple scapegoating, the University did something not advisable as a
> good practice and instead of owning up to it they villafied a
> professional pen-tester for offering valid advice.
>
> </RANT>
>
>
> Thanks,
> Bill
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