[ISN] Oracle Chief Challenges Hackers

From: InfoSec News (isnat_private)
Date: Wed Nov 14 2001 - 23:22:16 PST

  • Next message: InfoSec News: "[ISN] 'Dark web space' hides net nasties"

    http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,70663,00.asp
    
    James Niccolai, IDG News Service
    Tuesday, November 13, 2001
    
    LAS VEGAS -- Oracle's top executive told computer hackers on Monday
    night that his software is so secure they would never be able to break
    into Oracle's Web site, a boast that may be taken by many as a
    challenge.
    
    "This is a very dangerous thing to say--I'm not inviting a bunch of
    hackers to bring down the Oracle Web site," said Larry Ellison,
    Oracle's chair and chief executive officer. "But so far, with more
    than 1000 attacks a day, we've had no downtime, no interruption of
    service."
    
    Ellison made his remarks in a keynote speech at Comdex on Monday
    night, which he used to deliver a lecture on the stability of Oracle's
    software--particularly when used in clustered configurations--compared
    with those of his rival Microsoft.
      
    The database giant recently launched an advertising campaign with the
    slogan "Unbreakable", which is meant to suggest that Oracle's software
    doesn't break down and can't be broken into.
    
    "Everyone at Oracle was very nervous," Ellison said. "We're just going
    to cause every hacker around the world to attack the Oracle sites.
    They said, Larry, are you crazy?"
    
    Sure enough, the number of hackers trying to bring down Oracle's Web
    site has increased tenfold since the company started the campaign, to
    1000 attacks a day, according to Ellison. But his nerve is holding
    steady.
    
    "The new version of Oracle is completely fault-tolerant," he said.
    "You can't break in."
    
    The fault tolerance comes from using what Oracle calls Real
    Application Clusters, or using groups of servers to access a database
    for improved redundancy. If one of the servers goes down, the workload
    is shifted to another server and the application, such as a Web site,
    stays up. He asserted that Oracle's clustering system is more
    effective than those offered by rivals Microsoft and IBM.
    
    On a similar theme, the Oracle chief announced a program designed to
    entice users of Microsoft's e-mail server software to switch to the
    Oracle 9i database, which can act as a mail server. Companies running
    ten or more Microsoft Exchange servers could cut costs by switching to
    9i, he said.
    
    
    
    
    -
    ISN is currently hosted by Attrition.org
    
    To unsubscribe email majordomoat_private with 'unsubscribe isn' in the BODY
    of the mail.
    



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Thu Nov 15 2001 - 01:00:33 PST