Net melt-down threat overplayed
p2pnet.net News:- “The widely reported threat to the Internet – the threat that could let attackers bring the whole worldwide network crashing to its knees – doesn’t really exist. Or at worst, it’s minor.”
That’s from a ZDNet story here that goes on to quote Paul Watson, whose research on a TCP flaw “inadvertently triggered a flood of hyperbolic news reports,” as saying:
“I got off the plane in Vancouver (on Tuesday), and suddenly it’s a completely different world. It’s crazy.”
At least one story described researcher Michael Zalewski as having “discovered one of three flaws” identified by Britain’s National Infrastructure Security Coordination Centre as posing a grave risk to the security of the net”.
“I did not discover any of the ‘three flaws’ identified by NISCC – particularly since they’ve identified only one to start with,” he told p2pnet yesterday.
“Since the NISCC report implied the vulnerability is new, I decided to take a stand and correct this; other reporting bodies, such as US CERT (which is, by all means, a better established security response organization), seem to agree with my assessment and also note the problem is nowhere near being new.
“This is not to say the problem is worth downplaying – but it does not deserve mass hysteria, either.”
Zalewsy went on to explain in detail what the fuss was all about.
And at the end of the day, as Watson says in the ZDNet story, although he may not have saved the Net, he might have done something to counteract the often one-sided depiction of hackers in the press, adding:
“I hope that all the press brings more attention to what everyone here is doing. I’m really tired of ‘hackers’ being a bad word.”
