Slashdot Mirror
Do You Write Backdoors?
quaxzarron asks: "I had a recent experience where one of our group of programmers wrote backdoors on some web applications we were developing, so that he could gain access to the main hosting server when the application went live. This got me thinking about how we are dependent on the integrity of the coders for the integrity of our applications. Yet in this case a more than casual glance would allow us to identify potentially malicious code. How does this work when the clients are companies who can't perform such checks - either because they don't know how, or because the code is too large or too complex? How often do companies developing code officially sanction backdoors...even if means calling them 'security features'? How often has the Slashdot crowd put a backdoor in the code they were developing either officially or otherwise? How sustainable is the 'trust' between the developer and the client?"
i believe that our god friend bill had once added a back dor password "netscape users are weenies"
I've never coded backdoors into any software I've written. I usually don't use them in the future, and if I really need them, I gain access by other means. I can't see a logical reason to add them in, especially if you're job depends on the integrity of your code.
my code is so tight, the front door and backdoor are on the same hinge! hooah!
Only in the BBS Software, did I write backdoors, those kids never registered...had to slap their hands a bit.
And it lives here!
This story was just begging for this link!
I'd say that most slashdotters have "installed" someone's "backdoor" more than a few times.
I'd like to post an intelligent responce, but I need more info. Can I have some people send me a list of back doors they've created so that I can investigate further? thanks
Didn't we learn - if your developer is complaining that he doesn't get paid enough, you'll have dinosaurs eating your customers soon enough?
Haven't you seen Office Space? Most security breaches are by a company's own employees... most money lost illegally is due to the company's own employees. Reasons obviously include at least greed and revenge. And maybe bragging, but only to your girlfriend and the guy on the other side of the wall.
With so many clients deploying on Windows, who needs to waste time putting in a back door?
Its built right into the OS.
Cheers,
prat
Call it an "Administration area"
I make these: http://beatseqr.com
I heard that there's this program called Mozart's Ghost that has a little pi symbol put there by the notorious hacking group, the Praetorians. Anyway, if you click on it while holding down control-shift-back-back-forward-punch, it opens up a backdoor and your screen goes all crazy. I think it let's you hack the gibson or something.
"It's Dot Com!"
Cowboyneal is my backdoor.
Oh, I'm sorry, I thought this was a poll.
give url and master pw, pls.
thx
Dear Backdoor,
I'm sorry I haven't written in so long, but you know how busy things get. Maybe it's time for us to move on. I've found this great credit card database that uses default passwords. What can I say, it has so much more to offer.
Yours truly...
just be careful when the guy you are out drinking with starts leaning forward and discussing "backdoors".
...
he may not mean what you think he means
You must work for AOL
Then he could hold them ransom for ... one million dollars!!
[places pinky finger to lips]
I know a person who owns his own company and writes code on a for-hire basis. He puts in timed expiration code such that if they don't pay him within 30 days of delivery, his code de-activates.
My favorite practice is the license keyset approach. After a period of time the code will self-encrypt itself using 2048-bit Blowfish or something, then exit out. You have to have the keyset to decrypt it back out. If they don't pay up, they never get the keyset.
Dacels Jewelers can't be trusted.
I bet he did it with a Hydra..and you just know it has 1024 bit encryption piped through dual ds-3's to a residential address.
Finally, math books without any of that base 6 crap in them.
Yeah and there was like a WAR or something because of the GAMES. Then to stop the WAR he had to play GAMES with the computer.
I think it was called, "The Bus that Couldnt Slow Down".
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Did you ever think of what would happen if a cracker found out about such a backdoor? Just because you do your best to keep it a secret doesn't mean that crackers can't find out about it.
Well I don't know about you, but I use the same combination as on my luggage.
"But was there a backdoor to the backdoor?"
I think that was a gay porn title.
my favorite backdoors are not those that are obvious, but those that could be passed for a simple programming error... buffer overflow..etc
In fact, sociopaths are a minority
Sort of a tautologous statement, wouldn't you say? I mean, once they are in the majority, then their behavior is called custom right?
I would have to say that explosives are the most abused technology in all of history.
but how did he pop the firewall?
Damn it!!!! That was my password! I found it first!!!! Now I have to try to think up another one....
How is it that one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?
I'm not kidding. I work for a major software publisher (who will remain anonymous so that I can keep my job) who as part of our annual design process include a design specification for an easter egg in the product. Even QA spends time testing the easter egg.
Any method of gaining access that circumnavigates the established security procedures is a back door.
Hey dude, I thought circumnavigate meant something like circle without penetrating, or something like that. Like, in the seven cities of gold days you would circumnavigate the new world on a couple of trips, go back to spain and get more men and boats and stuff, and then go back to start your exploration of the interior.
Like what I said? You might like my music
didn't Kirk use a sneaky trick like this to get Khan in Star Trek II?
"Our shields are going down!"
Kirk: "Fire."
slashsearch.org - slashdot search. powered by google.
Yea, I realized this with horror just after I hit the post button.
I knew I could count on some flamage.
# (/.);;
- : float -> float -> float =
Sounds like they could get their jobs back by negotiating with extreme prejudice.
writing a backdoor? Just make sure it runs on MS products. The front door is always open.
We all witnessed Admiral Kirk leveraging the ultimate backdoor in Wrath of Kahn!
If it's a good enough programming practice for the United Federation of Planets, it's good enough for me.
Even Gary Coleman?
...excep the cat door, which NO ONE can fit through.
What about cat burglars?
The word he meant to use was "circumvent."
At least he didn't use "circumcise."
Yeah, kinda' like the /. crowd...
Who are you? The new #2 Who is #1? You are #617565. I am not a number, I am a free man! Muhahaha.
just be careful when the guy you are out drinking with starts leaning forward and discussing "backdoors".
...
he may not mean what you think he means
You mean this happened to you too?!
You're right, how could I be so ignorant of important PC issues of the day?! You've helped me to decide: I'm leaving computers and the software industry to take up a peaceful life of contemplation. Living off the land, pumping my own water, harvesting crops. I'm obviously a failure as a technologist, so I must find an ecosystem I can truly integrate with.
-If
PS: I USE the NET, and pay attention to it all the time, so I don't know what you are implying.
Run a pencil-and-paper RPG campaign with your far-off friends: Gametable!