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When Is It Right To Go Public With Security Flaws?
nk497 writes "When it comes to security flaws, who should be warned first: users or software vendors? The debate has flared up again, after Google researcher Tavis Ormandy published a flaw in Windows Support. As previously noted on Slashdot, Google has since promised to back researchers that give vendors at least 60-days to sort out a solution to reported flaws, while Microsoft has responded by renaming responsible disclosure as 'coordinated vulnerability disclosure.' Microsoft is set to announce something related to community-based defense at Black Hat, but it's not likely to be a bug bounty, as the firm has again said it won't pay for vulnerabilities. So what other methods for managing disclosures could the security industry develop, that balance vendors need for time to develop a solution and researchers' needs to work together and publish?"
WRT WRT 3a: So the industry and the manufacturer are basically patting each other on the back, happy in the knowledge that if no-one from the club talks about the problem, it's impossible to discover otherwise? It's going to be slightly icky to say "we told you so" when this is discovered independently and causes "a massive Zero Day event that would only harm consumers or leave them without the services of the software for several months." (Note that I used "when this is discovered", not "if". As you may be aware, if something could be done, it's only a matter of time until somebody does it)
You do your user name proud.
English is not this