RE: [ISN] InfoSec 2003: 'Zero-day' attacks seen as growing threat (Three messages)

From: InfoSec News (isn@private)
Date: Mon Dec 22 2003 - 02:24:58 PST

  • Next message: InfoSec News: "[ISN] ITL Bulletin for December 2003"

    Forwarded from: Harlan Carvey <keydet89@private>
    
    Rob,
    
    > I don't know about you but zero-day exploits frighten me.  Theyre
    > absolutely terrifying.  I think we should either (a) nationalize the
    > computer security industry or (b) dismantle the Internet as a
    > national security threat.
    
    I guess I can understand your point of view, but what about defense in
    depth?  Looking at the entire security picture as a whole, it would
    seem the even zero-day exploits may be extremely difficult to deploy
    *IF* more folks take a more comprehensive approach to security.
    
    Take Slammer last year, for example.  Infrastructures that did not
    expose UDP port 1434 to the Internet were not infected by the worm.  
    Looking further back, folks running IIS 4.0 who'd taken the step to
    disable ida/idq script mappings were not infected with Code Red.  
    These aren't necessarily zero-day exploits, but the worms do
    illustrate the lack of vision with regards to security.
    
    
    -=-
    
    
    Forwarded from: Jon Miller <cio.ny@private>
    
    These "zero day" exploits are finding previously unknown ways to do
    the same nasty things. Fortunately these nasty things are (or at least
    have been) finite.
    
    It seems to me that a behavioral approach is now as fundamentally
    necessary as as traditional signature based AV. Used in conjunction
    with eachother, they offer a defense in depth approach to layered
    security that can mitigate against patch latency and previously
    unknown exploits of vulnerabilities.
    
    Simply put, I don't care what mode of transportation a burglar takes
    to my house, I just don't want him to get in - or if he does, to take
    anything or do any harm.
    
    About that dismantling of the Internet...  Let's also ban all food
    additives, some may be bad - let's eat it all right away!  :)
    
    ---
    Jon Miller, CISSP
    Chief Information Security Officer
    The City of New York, HRA
    
    
    -=-
    
    
    Forwarded from: Barb  <ndex@private>
    
    There is a commercial NIDS product that does anomaly based detection.  
    It is fast and good, but I dislike the manufacturer so I will not plug
    them.
    
    Only the people who don't know that Zero-day exploits have been around
    since the beginning of the computer age and are also in a position to
    make IT/security policy scare me.
    
    They outnumber the knowledgable, skilled and talented by hundreds to
    one.  They are more of a problem than a solution.  They are the ones
    to stupid, vain or lazy to use a proper password or secure shell
    services.  They are the lame.  They should be banished from
    cyberspace...
    
    
    
    
    -
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