Fergie's Tech Blog

Mindset: Immunizing the Internet

Ed Felten writes on Freedon to Tinker:

Can computer crime be beneficial? That’s the question asked by a provocative note, “Immunizing the Internet, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Worm,” by an anonymous author in June’s Harvard Law Review. The note argues that some network attacks, though illegal, can be beneficial in the long run by bringing attention to network vulnerabilities and motivating organizations to address problems.

I don’t buy the note’s argument, but there is a grain of truth behind it. Vendors and independent analysts often disagree about whether a vulnerability is real or could ever be exploited in practice. One thing I’ve learned over the years is that the best (and often the only) way to resolve that debate is to demonstrate an exploit. If you can do something, people will accept that it is possible.

posted by Fergie @ 10/04/2006 01:43:00 PM