RE: [ISN] MyDoom sparks talks of security's future (Three messages)

From: InfoSec News (isn@private)
Date: Wed Feb 04 2004 - 01:52:06 PST

  • Next message: InfoSec News: "[ISN] Virus attack on Microsoft sites fizzles, expert says virus was badly written"

    Forwarded from: Chad W. Didier <cdidier@private>
    
    Why not quarantine individual computers or networks at the ISP level
    then redirect them to a proxy that does nothing but tell the
    users/admins their network is compromised and quarantined and will
    remain so until the problem is solved?  The ISP could even offer an
    online virus scan as a possible means to clear up their machine and
    allow them access to the internet.
    
    All internet data funnels through an ISP at some point. If virus
    threats are as serious as the industry moans and groans about then how
    come we haven't seen serious attempts to quarantine infected
    individuals or entire networks thereby preventing continued spread of
    the virus and driving home the seriousness of that individual or
    organization's failure to protect their own systems.
    
    A doctor will quarantine a person or group if he believes them to be
    infectious with a serious illness. Why then are we not quarantining
    our digital selves? Obviously, the expectation that an individual or
    organization is going to do what is right and follow best practices
    isn't working.
    
    
    -=-
    
    
    Forwarded from: Kurt <kurtbuff@private>
    
    Ya know, someone could do the world a large favor if they actually
    wrote what a lot of people have speculated about - a MyDoom variant
    that spreads, but after some period of time formats the local hard
    drive.
    
    I'm no fan of viruses, nor especially of virus writers, but if someone
    did this, it would actually help reduce a lot of problems, including
    spam.
    
    
    -=-
    
    
    Forwarded from: "Henderson, Dennis K." <Dennis.Henderson@private>
    
    How about simply not allowing SMTP direct to the Internet?  Geez,
    that's a no-cost solution for companies with firewalls..
    
    Dennis
    
    
    -----Original Message-----
    From: William Knowles [mailto:wk@private] 
    Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2004 5:50 AM
    To: isn@private
    Subject: [ISN] MyDoom sparks talks of security's future 
    
    
    http://news.com.com/2100-7349_3-5152165.html
    
    By Robert Lemos 
    Staff Writer, CNET News.com
    February 2, 2004
    
    The virus, which has combined many old attack techniques into a
    successful package, was hardly blunted by antivirus programs during
    the first few hours of its exponential spread.
    
    That's a problem, said Shlomo Touboul, CEO of security software maker
    Finjan Software.
    
    "The MyDoom attack should never have propagated so far into the
    Internet," he said. "It is obvious that we need another layer (of
    software) to protect during the first hours of attack."
    
    
    
    -
    ISN is currently hosted by Attrition.org
    
    To unsubscribe email majordomo@private with 'unsubscribe isn'
    in the BODY of the mail.
    



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Wed Feb 04 2004 - 04:17:45 PST