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Report Security Problems, Face The Consequences
An Anonymous Coward writes: "Doing a good deed has caused one man a lot of trouble in the past year. Brian K. West, a tech support junky in a SE. Oklahoman ISP is now facing felony charges due to alerting his competition about a serious security flaw in their systems. The full story can be found at LinuxFreak.org ... I find this rather disturbing that our federal government would do such a thing to someone.." The details of the story lead to some head-scratching.
PHB: "Good work, Johnson! That'll show 'em!"
Naked Woman Seeks Sex at Airport
Got Rhinos?
It says in the article that he 'tested' the secure hole to make sure it was indeed a security hole. It depends on what he did to that site during that 'testing'. If he did something illegal, then they are going to bust him down in court for that.
Do Something About This!
Talk to the techs.
Why would you call an editor-in-chief who has no experience with computers instead of, I don't know, say emailing the webmaster? Contacting someone at the hosting company?
Trolls throughout history:
Jonathan Swift
Shortly after we got our first T1 connection a few years back, we saw a bunch of strange computers show up in our network neighbourhood, This puzzled me, so I clicked on one of the computers and found out that it had a bunch of shares available. Sure enough, the shares were wide open. I didn't quite no how to respond, so I waited a day to see if the problem went away. It didn't.
I figured that if I could see the shares other people could to, so I opened a share and started looking for a document name that might give me a clue as to who was unwittingly making all this stuff available. I found a document called "Letterhead" or something like that, opened it up, and found a company name and number. I then called the company and told them what I had found.
They too had just gotten a connection, and the consultant that was in charge of configuring the firewall had not done things very effectively. The lady I spoke with was profusely thankful, and the problem was remedied in short order.
However, after reading this article, I'd probably just add some rules to my own firewall to stop their packets and leave it alone.
Stand Fast,
tjg.
So say I've found a security hole in a web site that I happen to pay to get access to... I look around a bit and find my credit card and contact information. What to I do then? Do I report the issue and get prosecuted, or do I not report the issue and leave my personal information open for anybody to see?
This is a crappy situation.
Abstainer: a weak person who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure.
--Ambrose Bierce
FBI goons play friendly while gathering evidence.
Only those things that can be used against you are considered.
Where is there news here?
I have made it a point to NEVER, under any circumstances, connect to any service beyond web pages linked by their own site, without written permission of the owner, on their corporate letterhead.
Exposing security problems is considered to be a nasty evil thing. Dont do it. Let them be hacked. Do not do it yourself. If you accidently find a hole, dont access it, Dont tell others of its existance, just go on about your own business.
You, a computer knowledgable person, represent a good tasty meal for the FBI's new computer crime group. They must somehow prove their worth to congress. You provide them with opportunity by providing a community service. Dont provide it.
My first encounter with an incompetent sysadmin came many years ago when I was compiling an index of files located on public FTP servers. This was even before the Archie indexing system was set up. I gathered lists of servers from Usenet and ran an indexer on them. The indexes were made available by FTP. The indexes were re-run about weekly. There were about 4 FTP sites at JPL in the list. I received a threatening letter from a sysadmin at JPL "informing" me that I was accessing a "secure government computer without authorization". Secure my ass! It was wide open, had files of clearly public interest, had no files I could tell from their names (since I didn't actually download any) would be anything confidential or secret, and was advertised as a public server on Usenet. After a few exchanges of email with this sysadmin, it became apparent that he was not only totally incompetent and utterly inept, he wouldn't even lift a finger to even try to fix his security problem. Were it not for the fact that its often very hard to get rid of the incompetent in government, I would have tried to get this guy fired. Of course today it would only get me arrested. I did remove that server from the list. If only there had been a slashdot in those days, but there wasn't even a web.
The law is today basically covering up for administrator incompetence. An administrator mistake that leaves a site insecure is one thing. But trying to cover up the mistake, or otherwise avoid doing the job ... is what is the indicator of the incompetence. We know about the bug in IIS that spawned life to a red worm. Microsoft even fixed it well before the worm started. The two Microsoft admin types I know had their servers all patched up and secure before the worm ever hit. But clearly there are hundreds of thousands of servers run by the incompetent.
now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
The FBI, in particular, is very ignorant about computers and securty. Read this Month's crypto-gram (one link from the page I lined to) for a story on how sensitive FBI documents were passed on to the internet at large via SirCam.
About a year ago, there was an (mumble mumble) on-line community that I was a part of. They had a number of mailing lists. Discovering that they had a Majordomo-style interface, I proceeded to send the list-request address a LIST request.
Instead of just listing the mailing lists that exists, the program gave me a list of all mailing lists, and all people subscribed to the lists.
Later on, someone on one of the lists wondered out loud how many people were on a mailing list. I told them.
At this point, the people freked out. They though I had broken in to their system or some such. I explained how I got the information, and then said that I was going to leave. I knew that this was something that could get me in to trouble.
Thankfully, the moderator of the mailing list was a member of out family's church. I wonder what could have happened if we were not on friendly terms with these people.
Finally, I wonder why the FBI persues crap like this, and not stuff like legitimate problems where the FBI could really help (scrool down to the section where he describes his dealing with the FBI).
- Sam
The secret to enjoying Slashdot is to realize that it should not be taken too seriously.
Feel free to copy this and send it off if you like. With luck, either the DOJ will quit, or we'll get a better explanation. Hopefully we can create an awareness that VOTERS ae watching what happens in these matters, and that we expect reasonable action and competence.
Don't post innacurate information
If you do, I swear by my pretty floral bonnet I will end you.
Shouldn't MS be a co-defendent as they provided the software used to 'hack' the site? Isn't there something illegal about making tools that are used for 'hacking'?
If he's guilty of anything perhaps it's a bit of overexuberance and a naive belief in the goodwill of others towards "Good Samaritans" in reporting the problem, but last I checked my moral compass, those aren't worth of a *FEDERAL FELONY* conviction.
I donated to Brian's cause, because a support technician for a local ISP in OK, he doesn't have thousands of dollars stashed away to cover the costs of a lawyer in a federal criminal case ( which this has suddenly become ).
If you don't believe in this case, donate to the EFF instead.
---
Segmentation Fault ( core dumped )
First of all, last time I checked, if a law enforcement official asks me to demonstrate something by breaking the law, then arrests me for it, technically thats entrapment.
If the company asks me to demonstrate breaking into their website, then thats the same thing as inviting me into your house then having me arrested for trespassing.
Also understand, that prosecutors don't usually offer plea agreements unless they know they're not going to get anything better. This guy might actually have a good case, the only problem is, the government has the ability to put too much pressure on the average citizen and force them into an easy out.
All that aside, what do we do? Should we not bother to help the world secure itself? Should we just worms and secretly release them so they fix all the problems and we just look the other way knowing that one way or another things will be secure and nobody will probably ever know about it anyways.
How DO we deal with this? Law Enforcement either doesnt' have a clue, or doesn't care, and probably its both. If the only proper actions are illegal (or will be treated as illegal) what can we do? We can try to educate, but I don't think Law Enforcement WANTS to be educated. Nor does anyone else for that matter. They want to just install their insecure microsoft crap and have it work, and microsoft certainly isn't going to take any blame for it.
This is kinda scary.. Imagine you're walking down the street and glance in someone's window and see a crime being committed, you report it, then get arrested for invasion of privacy. How different is this really? Because they involve computers and networks, people don't understand anything, they don't know what to do, so they panic and get law enforcment involved and they take every call so seriously because of those damned "hackers" that the public is so concerned about.
As I see it... we do our jobs. We don't talk to anyone, we just do what we're supposed to do. If we find a problem, we fix it and say nothing or we ignore it and let it fester (especially if its not OUR problem). Don't try to help anyone. If that user is having difficulty with their computer, if you're not responsible for maintaining it, then don't even think of touching it or even advising that user what to do. Tell them they're SOL unless they can find someone else to help them. Or hand them a book and tell them they'll have to figure it out on their own. This is not the world I want to live in, but what choice do we have? How can we risk it anymore?
-Restil
Play with my webcams and lights here
Totally wrong. Somebody who knows the technology must have been involved even before the called in the FBI. And I'm sure the FBI and the U.S. Attorney also have technical experts.
Undoubtedly Cyberlink has a policy of referring all security breaches with to the authorities. They probably call it "zero tolerance" or whatever the get-tough buzzword is this week.
Common sense says that West behaved responsibly. He inflicted no actual harm on the Daily News web opeation, and indeed probably saved them some down time, or worse.
Unfortunately, common sense is not relevent here. When somebody gets caught in a technical violation of the computer security laws (even when the violation is matter of interpretation, as in this case), the authorities have every motivation to "send a message" and go after the "culprit". Brian West's criminal intent, or lack of it, is simply not to be considered.
The ultimate safeguard is supposed to be the trial jury, which would presumably see that Brian is anything but a criminal. But in order to avail himself of that safeguard, Brian has to expend all his financial resources in an expensive trial.
So the U.S. attorney offers Brian a plea agreement involving no jail time. Brian gets to walk away with some of his finances intact, and the feds get to chalk up a conviction. Everybody's a winner.
Outragous? Yeah, some people would say so. Stupid? No argument from me. Counterproductive? Actually making things worse? Absolutely. Unprecedented? You've got to be kidding. This is the way the justice system works, and this sort of thing happens every day.
I've long had a policy of never reporting security breaches, unless the victim is somebody I know and trust. I've had brushes with the "shoot the messenger" mentality before, though never anything as nasty as this. I'm not suprised, but it's a little chilling to see my worst fears so thoroughly confirmed.
Ahem, this man has not been charged with a crime. That means they are blowing smoke -- for now. He does not need an attorney.
Look, several years ago, I walked near an area where a sexual assault had taken place. The police saw me, and you can imagine what happened. I was a perfect target -- single, no alibi, just walking between two places alone.
They questioned me, took my info, and left. The next day they started calling me at home and at work, trying to get me to confess, trying to get me to "accept" a lesser charge.
They stated that if it went to court, they had enough circumstantial evidence to convict me, that if I didn't take the offer, they would go for the most severe charge. I would be in jail for "years", and (obviously) lose my job.
If I would just confess to a lesser charge, they would "guarantee" no jail time, and no fine. After seven years, it would be like nothing happened, there would be nothing on my record.
There was just one problem with accepting the blame : I was not the perpetrator; I commited no crime.
So I was scared. I spent some money on an attorney ($75) and the guy wanted thousands "up front" to "insure my freedom".
As it turns out, most lawyers are lying bastards. I talked to my Dad's attorney about this, and he started laughing. He said "My God, this is America! You haven't even been charged! They're blowing smoke up your ass to try and get a free conviction for doing no work!"
He recommended that I call the Detective and state:
"My attorney and I will surrender to your department when charges are filed, please contact me at that time. I have no intention of fleeing; I would like to avoid the embarrassment of being arrested at my home or place of work".
Total cost for a real attorney : $0.00
I was never arrested, charged or contacted again!
Know your rights! You do not have to speak to the police...you should respect them and answer rudimentary questions with honesty, but once it becomes clear that you are a target of the investigation, stop talking! Simply tell them you intend to turn yourself in when charges are filed.
Treatment, not tyranny. End the drug war and free our American POWs.
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