http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=viruses__worms_and_security_holes&articleId=276275 By Jaikumar Vijayan December 11, 2006 Computerworld The long-standing tension between software vendors and independent researchers who try to find security holes in products came into public view late last month, when Oracle Corp. criticized bug hunters after it came under fire for its security practices. In a message posted Nov. 27 in a blog on Oracles Web site, Eric Maurice, manager of security in the companys global technology business unit, said Oracle wouldnt let external perceptions drive its software security policies. Maurice reiterated Oracles commitment to strong security practices but said it would continue to prioritize vulnerabilities based on their criticality and not on who had discovered them. He also blasted security researchers who disclose so-called zero-day flaws before vendors make fixes available for them. We consider such practices to be irresponsible, as they can result in needlessly exposing customers to risk of attack, Maurice wrote. The blog post was an apparent response to what Maurice described as a flurry of articles and blog entries about Oracle security issues. Database Holes For example, Next Generation Security Software Ltd., a Surrey, England-based security research firm that has consulted with Microsoft Corp. on security issues in the past, released a study showing that Oracles databases have had far more vulnerabilities than Microsofts SQL Server has had over the past six years. Meanwhile, a security researcher in Argentina announced then abruptly canceled plans to release information about an Oracle zero-day flaw every day for one week in December. Cesar Cerrudo, founder of Argeniss, an IT security firm in Buenos Aires, wouldnt explain why he dropped the bug-disclosure plans. But via e-mail, Cerrudo defended the work done by security researchers and said vendors should be more concerned about responsible software development than about proper vulnerability disclosure practices. Vendors are used to researchers playing nice, he wrote. The situation should change. Research costs thousands of dollars, and right now vendors are getting [it for] free. H.D. Moore, founder of the controversial Metasploit Project, which releases vulnerability information and tool kits for writing attack code, rebutted the notion that such initiatives only benefit malicious hackers. The information made available by Metasploit puts the good guys on equal footing with the folks who already have the skill to launch these types of attacks, Moore wrote as part of an e-mail interview. Security flaws are unlikely to remain undiscovered for long, whether bug hunters go looking for them or not, said Robert Palmer, vice president of IT at Lenox Inc., a Lawrenceville, N.J.-based maker oftableware and giftware. Independent researchers provide a valuable service, not just to users but to software vendors as well, Palmer said. He added that he wants to see vendors bring bug hunters into the software development cycle. One way to do so would be to give researchers access to alpha or beta code with the express intent of letting them try to crack it before the software is commercially released, Palmer said. But Andrew Plato, president of Anitian Enterprise Security, a consulting and systems integration firm in Beaverton, Ore., said researchers should give vendors at least 30 days to address vulnerabilities before reporting them publicly. One of the largest problems with independent vulnerability research is blackmailing and grandstanding, Plato said. He added that as long as bug hunters follow generally accepted flaw-reporting practices, they serve an important role. Obscurity is not security, Plato said. Its better to know about a bug and get it fixed than to have it hidden. _____________________________ Subscribe to InfoSec News http://www.infosecnews.org/mailman/listinfo/isn
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