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Broadband Access Leading to Internet Breakdown?
"Spam, adware, worms and viruses are now able to propagate much faster than ever before. Worms are also growing bigger, more advanced, as it's possible to transfer more viral code in less time. It's as if slow dial-up lines acted as a kind of immune system that prevented effective propagation of worms and made DDoS attacks so much less significant.
I'm not only worried about viruses and spam levels. Part of the reason the MPAA and RIAA are taking such an interest in Internet activity is that file sharing has become so much easier with the availability of broadband, and as usual there are murmerings of regulation. Before the broadband revolution, the involvement of the MPAA and RIAA in Internet affairs was small, and their argument was less convincing.
As broadband grows, will regulation become necessary not just to prevent illegal distribution of copyrighted material but more likely to protect Internet users from themselves (we're already seeing ISPs adding spam e-mail filtering to their default services, for example)? Will the Internet fall in popularity as it becomes more and more frustrating and dangerous to use, or will we simply see a massive improvement in coding practices and more secure software?"
Obviously, the time to distribute fixed and patches goes down as well. As does the ability to spread the word about things going around... I see the "always on" thing as more of a security risk than the higher speed, definately.
replacing it with NEW Folger's Crystals! (lets see if they notice the difference)
Come on - the virus and worm anaology is a great one to make lots of ... but they aren't evolving under Darwinian survival of then fitest .... if anything it's more of a creationist sort of thing with rival gods throwing their latest creations into the world to battle it out with nature (ie the rest of us who provide the medium for them to live in) and each other
Email is one of the biggest threat vectors.
When email gets fixed (through authenticated access), the worms and virii will need to find a new way to spread.
This is in addition to the more obivous effect of cutting down the overall flow of spam.
there are 3 kinds of people:
* those who can count
* those who can't
Wasn't IPv6, combined with proper filtering supposed to curb these problems?
Alot of the blame falls on the ISP, they helped turn the Internet into a always-on appliance, now they have to make it robust.
Why does my ISP allow packets off my network that obviously don't originate from it? Is it considered a feature to allow DoS attacks? Why is port 25 open by default? Why isn't NetBIOS closed by default? Where is the IPv6 testbed that my ISP was supposed to have had 3 years ago?
Granted, the average Joe User can be an idiot, but part of the ISP's job is to make the Internet more idiot-proof.
Those who change will survive. E.g. learn to patch your system, avoid insecure behaviour and tighten up your network [e.g. firewall, NAT, etc...].
Those who don't will find their computer experience horrible and "die off" as far as the market is concerned.
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
am going to write that lame joke you thought I would.
Instead i would like to say that the Internet is not a medium that should be regulated or cencored.
If the dumb users are getting hurt by its wildness, that same darwinism should do its work.
And if we will see more secure software? Dont hold your breath.
The system had the verbosity of HTML combined with all the readability of compiled assembly viewed as bitmap images
I still find it mystifying that any ISP would allow/encourage users to directly connect completely unprotected machines to a high-speed internet connection.
Sure, Windows could be better in terms of security, but that wouldn't even be a problem if all those insecure services were behind (even a minimal) firewall.
-Mark
(My DSL account came with a "free" firewall-enabled router)
A digital divide is probably more likely, as most people on broadband are accessing fuller multi-media experiences while poor souls have to avoid big-combo sites.
I think from the history of technology advancement, things always get bigger, better, faster, strong etc, and they usually don't break themselves down in the process.
Take our transportation for example, when the gravel roads got too crowded, we paved them, then widened them, then built highway motorway causeway, then we moved to train, light-rail, bullettrain.
At first we only tried to travel a short distance if you had to do it by foot, when we have cars, we want to travel further and eventually it is too far for cars, and we move to flights etc etc.
The cycle just keeps going.
Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
The problem is the transformation of most nodes of the Internet from peers to clients. That's what's going on with broadband; they lure you to the service with speed and reliability then after you're in they let you know you can't run any services and they're putting a mandatory (and poorly-run) spam filter on your incoming mail.
You're no longer part of the network. You're only a consumer and spectator. Spam is bad but RBLs like SPEWS and the admins that force them on their users can be worse. There used to be a time when you could hook into the Internet and go pretty much anywhere you wanted to go; today everybody wants to lock you down and force you to pay for things you once enjoyed for nothing or move to a different server because of some political battle over spam. When people like John Gilmore get screwed for running a mailserver, or a website like Something Awful has its business operations hampered, I can see the writing on the wall.
We need to get back to the days of having Internet access being a utility, much like electricity or water, where one could hook in and use it any way one will. The looming threat is control, lockdown, and homogenization that promises to render this medium as stale as commercial radio.
Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
-- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.
The best defense against viruses is a healthy immune system, and an organism gains a healthy immune system through exposure to germs and viruses.
The current "epidemic" of viruses serves only to strengthen the immune systems various groups are developing to regulate the wider ecosystem - the net.
There will always be change, and one of the drivers of change is chaos.
"If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments." Earl Wilson
I think the proliferation of broadband has helped the internet become a more valuable tool for the average 2.5-kids-having-explorer-driving-all-American-fami ly, which has caused it to be a greater part of all our lives. As such, it is now on the radar for the type of people who are threatened by anything beyond their control.
The more we become dependent on the internet, the more interest there will be in regulating it. The level of freedom, possibility, and power that the internet affords to the average person is simply unprecedented. Freedom of the press belongs to those who own a press. With the advent of the internet, the average soccer-mom now has a press that can publish to the entire world for pennies.
Attempts to regulate and lock-down the net are inevitable. It is the nature of those who seek power for themselves to deny and control the power afforded to others.
The possibility of always-on connections spewing a constant stream of malware and sludge is just an excuse. The proliferation of broadband is dangerous because it put the issue on the map and a very high level of power in the hands of the people.
The Dalai Llama
Citizen of a nation where freedom of speech, bought with the blood of heroes, is used to spread pr0n and reality TV shows.
My sig could be your sig!
It's easy to look down on uninformed people who want to learn how to use the Internet, and complain that they are the ones ruining it for all of us. You could instead take the opportunity to teach these newbies how to protect themselves online. Why did you sell him a PC with no firewall or antivirus? There are free versions of each available, so I see it as partly your responsibility for selling a machine that was so wide open to attack. As to Internet usage being a priviledge rather than a right, I couldn't disagree more. It is this sort of elitist rhetoric that gives all of us geeks a bad name. The Internet is for all of us, not just the few that you or anyone else determines is worthy of it.
>>As I see it, it's that the users are using
>>Windows, not that they are coming in high speed.
Ahh..... bullshit.
Most of the worms and trojans and crap that are going around lately are all user spawned. They haven't crawled in through a remote exploit. They've been emailed to/downloaded by some genius who will execute any damn thing. I swear, these people would probably pick up a used syringe off the ground and jab it into their own arm to see what would happen.
Do you think it would be any different if the world was all running Linux? Or Solaris? Or MacOS. Please - stupid people will be stupid no matter what OS you put in front of them. It isn't going to change anytime soon.
>>I'm getting hammered by spam and worms and
>>EVERYTIME I nmap back to the sender (okay
>>0.001% of senders, randomly chosen as I get
>>pissed off), it's a windows box.
Geee --- and what percentage of computers out there are windows boxes? What a shocking correlation.
The problem with this is that so many warnings will show up that users will ignore them anyway and get infected. My Linux email client always warns me before opening up attachments and I just click OK. Since there are not Linux email viruses out now, not a big problem. However, if there was one, the popup box would not help me since I instinctively click through it. This is not even considering an entire class of people (I like to call them Darls) that will intentionally try to open dangerous attachments. It really doesn't take a large number of Darls to screw up the fun for everybody.
AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
I believe it's already been proven that it doesn't work.
...will we simply see a massive improvement in coding practices and more secure software?
This seems to be the only real workable and fair solution.
What?
Yeah, I know. Everyone has their own fix for the problem, but I really think these steps would take care of most of it.
1. Free firewall software from an ISP for all Windows boxes. I really don't think ZoneLabs would charge too much for an ISP to distribute the free version of ZoneAlarm. Ditto that for AdAware or Spybot S&D.
2. Free virus-scanning of all email. Don't scan for spam and forward through all virus-stripped email just in case it contains important information. I know, most viruses are ONLY viruses, but you never know what may come later.
3. Have ISPs monitor port 25. If traffic is seen, test it for an open relay. This could be part of the contract the customer would sign. If it's an open relay, block it and tell the customer to clean up the machine if they want it open.
4. Once a new major virus such as MSBlast hits, monitor for it's traffic and block appropriately or take them offline until it's fixed. Of course the virtual network with cleaning tools is a good idea, also.
If this doesn't happen (and I don't expect it to) people with computers HAVE to learn that running a computer hooked up to the Internet is a responsibility. If they can't learn how to manage it properly, they should hire someone to do it. You have to maintain your car and people don't complain too much about it. If they do, people may feel sorry for them, but that's as much slack as they get. Don't fix it? Don't drive.
But why is the rum gone?
Can you say "Clipper chip"?
Unfortunately, governments (and especially ours) aren't exactly known for learning their lesson the first time around. This is likely a battle we'll have to fight again, and soon.
-----Chaz
ISPs that can't be bothered to filter out the viruses are the primary cause of all this damage.
Today, almost all viruses are weapons to attack home PCs, installing spambots. If the ISPs had even been marginally responsible as these epidemics started, rather than fostering the spread of ever-more-dangerous virii, today's problems would be several orders of magnitude less than they are.
That has nothing to do with broadband per se. It has to do with trying to make a buck by externalizing all costs ... changing the Internet from a place where
organizations were responsible, to one where irresponsibility
became the norm.
There are lots of real-world examples of people being held responsible for their actions. You can't just go screwing people to give them AIDS, for example. Or firing guns into crowds. And there are plenty of places where littering gives reasonable fines (hundreds of dollars).
Isn't that what this is all about? The noobs don't know how to swim, but they are hell bent on jumping into the deep end.
/. article asking questions for Mike Godwin about legal issues on the web. Let's face it, and check me here, but stupid is still free as best I know. Sadly, it is the best some can afford.
I have moderated some large message boards, by way of an analogy. They always start off with a small group of people that get comfortable with the tone of voice, the technology involved, and they then set the trend for that one site. If the tone is right (i.e., inviting) tons of people start showing up. If you build it, they will come and all that. You'd think that would be a good thing, but it invariably leads to becoming "a victim of your own success".
You get people that have no idea what have gone on before, but show up and start demanding to be heard. Major soap box time. And God help 'em if they don't get taken seriously, or get criticized because they are reinventing the wheel or any of a number of other things.
This dovetails nicely with the
Is there a crackdown on surfing habits in the future? Maybe. On the whole, it probably wouldn't be a bad thing since most issues would be related to security type items (antivirus requirements, firewalling, OS patches, etc) as has been noted. Would things like this impact the "old timers"? Probably not, and the noobs wouldn't even know the difference anyway.
Remember, the question wasn't about freedom of speech, copyright issues, IP, etc., but the propagation of crap.
Broadband connection, analog connection, it doesn't matter. The abuses are the same (read "deranged indifference" as abuses). It's like the Austin Powers movie where the guy gets run over by a steam roller. The end result is the same, it just takes a lot longer than getting hit by a Porsche. The outcome is inevitable, in my mind. It is just a matter of how quickly we get there.
Yeah. Yeah I do. Because those OSs don't have (1) a dirty syringe attractor and (2) a dialog box that pops up and says "Would you like to jam this into your arm?".
The underlying windows platform is flawed. There are WEEKLY buffer overflows and it's clear that aside from the VAST amount of unsecure old code in it, that new code is rife with holes too.
How many times was outlook fixed to stop running code in preview mode (hint, it's >1).
In bending over backwards to make it easy for users to run things on windows, they leave themselves open. Anyone recall when the "good times virus" that promised a worm from opening an attachment was ridiculous because no program would treat data as executable code!? I miss that now.
Re: nmapping back?
When I scan 200 machines and ALL of them are running windows and ALL of them are sending me mydoom, that's not just bad luck of the draw.
I was blocking 140 mydoom.a messages a minute the day AFTER it started.
Most of the worms and trojans and crap that are going around lately are all user spawned
By "lately" you just mean that 12 or so since new years. I guess when you have so many, it's hard to recall back to last summer and the previous 30 security holes.
When a client groused about the cost of an antivirus program for scanning mail at their college, I pointed out that the WHOLE cost should be borne by the Windows support group. The 10-20% of the school taht wasn't using windows had no (zero, none, nil, nada) need for filtering out viruses that autoexecute in their environment.
At another (very very large wall st) client, I was delighted to see security and a manager show up and FIRE someone for using outlook. 3 warnings about it and AGAIN, he brought a virus in. They'd figured the cost of each incident and banned it. Bravo!
So YES, driving a line of cars through town filled with explosives is bad, even if you tell them not so smoke.
Letting a former addict go hang out with crackheads and spend lots of time with them is BAD.
Letting ignorant Windows users have machiens that can be reached for the net is BAD. That windows machine is just jonesing for a virus fix.
"I'm not only worried about viruses and spam levels. Part of the reason the MPAA and RIAA are taking such an interest in Internet activity is that file sharing has become so much easier with the availability of broadband, and as usual there are murmerings of regulation. Before the broadband revolution, the involvement of the MPAA and RIAA in Internet affairs was small, and their argument was less convincing. "
If you're using the internet to violate copyright laws, that is not an exercise in freedom, but instead an exercise infringing on someone elses rights. The fact that you weren't caught before doesn't mean the internet is becoming less free. It means there is less anarchy on the internet.
Vote for Pedro
Today's broadband ISPs are a bit more sophisticated than the shabby dialup operations of yesteryear. Now they offer as standard spam & viruses filtering, NAT, real routers as opposed to modems, and more.
Also more and more mere users have come to understand the importance of patching, disabling services, not trusting attachments etc and even Microsoft is supposed to be shipping some kind of firewall software as standard now.
Things are not as one-sided as it looks.
The advent of widespread broadband access, per se, is hardly cause for a breakdown in basic Internet functionality. Talk about inferring cause and effect. What is responsible is a breakdown in the caliber of the network user. Prior to the Internet being opened for public access, you had primarily large-scale governmental, corporate or institutional users, any of whom are (presumably) a harder target than the average Dell owner with a Surfboard. By the logic of this post, it would make perfect sense to restrict everyone to 110 bps Baudot communications in order to make it harder for worms to proliferate. That's ridiculous. What needs to be done is to secure the network, by both the end user and the connectivity provider. Blaming high transfer rates is, well, like trying to cure diarrhea by tinkering with the plumbing in your bathroom. If you try to treat a problem symptomatically, rather than analytically, you are unlikely to find a cure.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
The internet is a free scale network. If you look up some of the information behind such a network you would realize a few KNOWNS
Believe it or not a free scall network and the Internet:
Can not be destroyed
Can not be owned
Individual or single entitites on it only have minimel impact (HUBS having the most influeance, and I don't me devices)
No one can even fully understand the complete workings of the internet.
These are almost FACTs, I know some may despute them but with out going to deep into the concepts I can asure you that Broadband or a Nuclear War will not destry the internet (Though it might lower its usage a little)
-- Disclaimer: I can't really back up anything I post on