dtynan@sultra.UUCP (Der Tynan) (11/12/88)
OK, how about this scenario, for all you worm-lovers. RTM 'tells' people
about the hole. He publishes the bug-fixes that people criticize him for
using. THEN, about two months later, he lets fly with his evil creation.
Those people who had taken heed wouldn't be affected, and those sites that
ignored the warning would. This would have been the 'smart' thing to do,
if he really wanted to play with something out of his depth. The reason
I think he didn't do this, is because if he *told* everyone about the bug
his *neat* worm project wouldn't go anywhere. Thus, keep it a secret, and
show the world how "brilliant" he is. Personally, if I wanted to research
a bug like that, I'd do it between two machines, but DON'T put code in there
to have it spread. This stinks of 'crackerism', no matter what way you look
at it. He wrote the code to infiltrate other peoples systems, pure and
simple. I'm glad to say, that this is against the law in this country.
While I *do* think the guy should pay the piper for this, it's not for the
reason Weemba-the-worm-lover thinks. I think making him a "cause-celebe"
will mean that people left-right-and-centre will try similar stunts. That's
just what I need. Some twit out there constantly calling my systems, and
trying random passwords. So let's say my system is bullet-proof. They'll
still tie up the lines.
I think most of us are being too short-sighted, when it comes to the reper-
cussions. Forget "top-paying jobs". Forget media hero. How about;
Book rights: "My life as a Worm, by Robert T. Morris".
Film rights:
"This weeks Movie of the Week on NBC, is 'MASTERMIND: The story of
Robert Morris, the boy who brought the nations computers to their
knees'".
Those who think this is a once-off event, are sadly mistaken. Whether future
attempts are successful are not, is irrelevant, given the amount of time SA's
will have to devote to checking AUDIT's, file sizes, user accounts, etc.
Maybe we should introduce a new post within the computer department;
"Security Administrator". YAHPJ (Yet another high-paying job).
- Der
--
dtynan@sultra.UUCP (Dermot Tynan @ Tynan Computers)
{mips,pyramid}!sultra!dtynan
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