Some Companies Don't Care about Web Defacement

An anonymous reader sent in an interesting link to a story that talks about companies that just Don't care about Defacement. The story is just a light think piece worth a glance. And hell, its the holidays so its not like anything else interesting is gonna turn up to read for a few days :)

Comments

Finally some one said it!

[Rebel Patriot]

This is a new world we live in and the rules and laws must change to meet the new era of information and communications. In this world we must change to allow for the net. Consider this; the possible number of people capable of defacing a website could soar into the millions and tens of millions within just a few years. Over the last 20 years I've seen the personal computer rise from a Mac with two 5.25" floppies to Athlon XPs. The number of people using computers has skyrocketed accordingly. It is very likely within 10 years that most people will have heard of Linux and at least a fourth of them compiled a kernel. With a staggering growth of knowledge comes a need to stim that growth in certain areas. Ten years ago a computer connected to the internet was almost 100% safe because no one had the knowledge and time to find security holes, much less exploit them. As the net grew and matured, more and more people flocked to it as a hobby and e-mail became popular. Enter MS Outlook and IIS, the largest security breeches known to mankind. These programs were designed so the stupid masses could use them. Everyone cheered and applauded that they were now able to check their e-mail through a Microsoft client, or run a webpage for their business using IIS. These two programs are marvelous in their functionallity. Both are filled with knobs and switches so they can do many many things. This flash is all show though when it came down to security. A small group of people began realizing these tools were readily exploitable. Thus began the great fall of the internet. Viruses and worms swept through the net, propogating in huge numbers. People began to doubt the securityu of the net and the dot-com boom left oh-so many offices vacant ghost towns, visited only occasionally by whisps of dust and an occasional mouse, searching for the droppings of a candy bar. From there the net rallied, pushing strong back against the script-kiddies with its new vorpal sword wielded by its champion, Tux! But one lone penguin can at best hope only to stimy the efforts of attackers who seek back-doors and loop-holes. The vast numbers are still enjoying the functionality of M$ while they suffer unjustly from attacks by faceless cowards. They think this is simply the price they pay for the net, as if the ent were some scrupulous being that existed solely for our detriment, feeding us the occasional nugget of gold to keep our avarice alive. These people view this almost philosophically. "We must endure these attacks and rebuild, for such is the nature of life." This philosophy is flawed! The nature of life is to live, not be lived upon! The net should not be used as some tool to fart on those you wish, forcing them into a sub-life on the net in which they constantly rebuild their empire the same time and time again, forgetting that the toolss exist to protect against such attacks. Now mroe than ever we realize that striking some one in the jugular is rather easy. It is time the people of the net become net-wise (to coin a term borrowed from Okefenoke Joe and made their businesses secure. It is time they began to close the back-doors, and look for solutions that are both functional and secure even if doing so requires allot of effort on their part. And it is time for prosecution of such activites. Now I know that the majority of people that force these attacks are minors, but juvenile dilenquits must be punished if their willful and immature actions inflict damages on other people. Police can't possibly hope to find and prosecute these people. Our police are horribly overworked as is. Also, attacks of this nature tend to cross state and national lines. The copy-right holders of many nations pushed the DMCA which was finally signed into law here in America, but why not do something multi-national that makes sense "net-wise"? How about a multi-national police force that exists solely to track down and prosecute net criminals, be they script-kiddies or international terrorists hell-bent on destroying our commerce by attacking national banks and treasuries? P.S. This may start a flame war. Such is NOT my intention.