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?"
my code is so tight, the front door and backdoor are on the same hinge! hooah!
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.
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
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
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.
The word he meant to use was "circumvent."
At least he didn't use "circumcise."