Aleph1 Passes The Bugtraq Baton

Rogue_F writes: "The long running security mailing list Bugtraq is getting a new moderator. Elias Levy (the real name of the familiar Aleph1) has decided to move on to other things. For nearly six years he has been moderating bugtraq with a high degree of success. No one doubts the usefulness of bugtraq, but many people probably dont appreciate what a 'clean' list it is. No spam, no flames, no relgious security wars, instead you get good wholesome security information. Aleph1 details in this message that he is moving on to other security projects and that David Ahmad is taking over moderation duties. Bugtraq continues to churn out quality security information on a daily basis, and it looks like it will continue to do so for quite some time to come." List moderators and maintainers seem universally denied their due credit -- people like Zack Brown (of Kernel Traffic fame) end up getting noticed only when --infrequently -- they go on vacation.

Comments

Aleph1 will be missed by at least me.

[GoNINzo]

I've been reading BugTraQ for years, and Elias has done a fantastic job running it. I've been impressed by the sheer amount of mail he's been able to manage, going through several different mass mailers. and the signal to noise ratio has been one of the highest on the internet for security related information. He was quick to admit when the mailers had issues, he was quick to compile data for massive attacks that were immediately ongoing, he would always keep us informed, and most importantly, he rarely let the traffic slow.

The 'usual discussions' were sometimes let through, but Elias never let them go on too long. The spam was almost non-existant. And anytime I had a problem with recieving items from the mailing lists, he was always quick to fix them.

Aleph1's contribution to the security community has been sizable, and he shall be remembered. Even if only for future "gR33+5 +0 4l3ph1!!" in exploit code to come.

Thank you for contributing your time and energy herding 50,000 cats at the same time. Some of us appreciate it a great deal.

(Not to downplay david's already noticable contribution of course. `8r) )

A Quick Thanks

[RWarrior(fobw)]

I for one owe Mr. Levy a tremendous debt of gratitude for his service at BugTraq. It has provided me, my students, and my professional colleagues a tremendous resource for research (via the archives) as well as virtually real-time vulnerability notification. Together with NTBugTraq, it provides a tremendous resource for the white hat community, without the fluff, spam, flames and noise of unmoderated lists and newsgroups.

The hard moditorial work done by Mr. Levy is what makes BugTraq the useful tool that it is.

While I have no doubt that Mr. Ahmad will serve the community in an excellent fashion, Mr. Levy will be a really hard act to follow, and I for one will miss his unseen hand.

Unbiased? Impossible.

[morven2]

The very function of a moderator is bias. A moderator must make value judgments about what should be on the list and what should not be.

What I think you mean by 'unbiased' is 'without biases I don't like'.

Good luck Aleph1

[merc]

First I'd like to state that Aleph1 did a terrific job, and also the community should thank Security Focus, and Alfred Huger for their support of BT over the last couple years. Without their support it's hard to know where BT would be today.

Secondly I think it would be interesting if Slashdot could do an interview with Scott Chasin, aka Doc Holiday, the original founder of BugTraq. There are some of us who still remember when BT started and are interested in reliving the motivations behind it's inception.

Lastly, I'd like to say that certain comments made at Blackhat this year were quite inappropriate, (regarding BugTraq). It's unfortunate what damage (unnamed) small-minded members of the community can have -- for a service that has been free, useful, and especially today, increasingly important.