[nylug-talk] 0wned .gov machines (was Re: Russian cyberwar against Estonia?) (fwd)

[Jay Sulzberger]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
  Date: 20 May 2007 18:34:53 -0000
  From: John Levine <johnl at iecc.com>
  To: cryptography at metzdowd.com
  Cc: perry at piermont.com
  Subject: Re: 0wned .gov machines (was Re: Russian cyberwar against Estonia?)

  >I've heard nothing formal, but my strong understanding is a lot of US
  >government machines, at least if we're talking workstations on
  >non-classified nets, are in fact "0wn3d" at this point.

  Well, here's an anecdote: at last year's CEAS conference, Rob Thomas
  of Team Cymru gave the keynote on the underground economy, with a most
  horrifying set of both live demos and selected snapshots of the online
  bazaars where online warez are traded, everything from zombie farms to
  spamware to stolen credit cards.  One of the more amusing was a guy
  who offered a zombie in some part of the government that you'd hope
  would be moderately secure, NASA or someplace like that, at a higher
  than normal price.  The immediate response was ridicule, bots on
  government nets are a dime a dozen, and aren't worth any more than any
  other bot.

  R's,
  John

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