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Pastimes : Unabomber's Paradise (or all that glitters is not DOT COM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: lorrie coey who wrote (5)	3/5/2000 3:08:00 PM
From: Hubert Few	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15

Thank you for an obviously well-thought out post! You said: I don't subscribe to the "UrbanHackerMyth'...NFW. The only entities with enough of a motivation to execute DDoS are those who PROFIT from it...Not teenagers, Not Lonely Joe6pacx...[although 'Users' will be picking up the tab, ultimately... after the GoldRush]. Time Equals "Money". Yes, well, one of the more rewarding aspects of having a somewhat paranoid personality is that I can envision any number of scenarios that present a profit motive. Might not a disgruntled techie at XYZ corporation seek to extract his/her vengengance over having been "unjustly" treated? Such a person (or group of people) could conceivably create code that would disable a multi-billion dollar cash cow with a few keystrokes. Consider the number of innocent "Easter Eggs" that find their way into an "off the shelf" software package. One of the most troublesome viruses I have ever encountered was spread through the install disks of an expensive accounting software package. And where is the profit motivation? It would not take a genius to figure out that enormous wealth might be had in "knowing" that XYZ corp was about to take a tremendous hit on the stock market. Or perhaps this person had connections with a competing company? Ok, so I am straying from the subject of "DOS" attacks. My "tongue in cheek" opener was focused on only one of many possibilities as to how a motivated person or group could bring considerable disruption. I do lend a certain amount of credibility to the "Whacko Factor". Militant groups, such as the one that plotted the Trade Center bombing, or the release of poison gas in the subways, etc. Delivering a few lines of destructive code over the internet would seem far safer than building a portable nuclear device, don't you think? To what end? To punish us for our philosophical and/or religious differences, nothing more. We are widely regarded as deserving of as much torment as possible, is it such a stretch to think MANY groups would like to see the U.S. get as many black-eyes as possible....the ultimate goal of course being to overthrow our government, kill as many "innocent" fat and happy capitalist pigs as possible, and to rape, pillage, and plunder afterward? (sorry, run-on sentences are often more trouble to correct than they are worth IMHO) Once a business knows where it's vulnerable, it must learn to use that vulnerability to it's advantage... Maybe, but more often than not, this is in hindsight. The next "big thing" in pulling the plug on the internet may be NOTHING like what any of us considers remotely possible. Do you really think that any of the major trunk lines carrying our beloved "dotcom" world are completely safe? I recently witnessed how difficult it is to repair a fiber-optic cable for instance. This is always the trade-off.....more capacity equals more profit, more vulnerability and dependence on "bleeding edge" technology. I don't know the implications in your particular line of employment, but I see daily examples of a major corporation (the one I work for) becoming increasingly dependent on e-mails, shared databases, and "distributed" information. It is not a foregone conclusion that these choices are inherently safe or reliable. It is analogous to a large country becoming totally dependent on a central source of oil, and capping off plentiful supplies elsewhere. (when has THAT ever happened?) The bigger question to me is on how to survive, dare I say it, PROFIT from the enevitable financial chaos that would ensue? Your thoughts on living in a post "new-age" economy? I have some ideas, and I am actually drawing up a framework for them. What is truly important in your life, and what is merely convenience at considerable cost? Anxiously awaiting another articulate response!