The Washington Monthly

July 29, 2005

WORRYING ABOUT THE BOTTOM LINE....Researcher Michael Lynn got sued by Cisco a couple of days ago. Why? Because he told a conference of security experts about serious flaws in Cisco's routers:

Since January he has been studying how hackers could seize control of routers made by Cisco — devices that are used around the world to direct Internet traffic.

The research showed that a series of previously disclosed flaws were far more critical than had been believed, jeopardizing computers that had not received recent software updates, Lynn told attendees Wednesday.

"You could own portions of the Internet. It's pretty scary," said Ero Carrera, a researcher with the Finnish security software company F-Secure Corp. who attended the talk.

Lynn didn't just spring this on Cisco out of nowhere. He shared his findings with them months ago, and in his talk he deliberately restricted what he said so that hackers couldn't exploit the vulnerabilities he had discovered. Cisco sued anyway.

Lynn is remarkably understanding about the whole affair, though. The attempt to stop his talk, he said, was "probably good for their bottom line — and bad for the country." That sounds about right.

—Kevin Drum 12:04 PM Permalink | Trackbacks

Comments

May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004
September 2004
August 2004
July 2004
June 2004
May 2004
April 2004
March 2004
February 2004
January 2004
December 2003
November 2003
October 2003
September 2003
August 2003
July 2003
June 2003
May 2003
April 2003
March 2003
February 2003
January 2003
December 2002