1. You don't have to actually bring a system down or even seriously disrupt it to succeed in CT. All you must do is make the "Other Guy" Think you can. Or will. (see point 4) You must however have enough in the way proof to make the organization believe you can. Uncertainty about thier own security will do much of the work for you.
2. The "skills" neccessary are actually quite slim. You need a bit of experience with the industry you are tying to disrupt, a bit of inside knowledge of the company helps tons (ie: what OS it's running, what's the organization's default Passwd (most companies have them) ) And lastly you just need to know where to look for exploits. (aka "Kode Kiddiez", this is NOT real cracking, but will acomplish the goals you have set forth).
3. Few ties in the organization you are taking down. it's hard to be successful if your the prime suspect.
4. FUD (Fear Uncertainty Deception) can acomplish much, (ie: the Valentine Day's "hack" of AOL a few years ago. AOL responded, and was disrupted even though the "hack" did not take place)
5. Media ties. CT matters little if you can't get the media's attention. Most of the damage to an organization will occur from the public's reaction. (most true of non-traditional (non-brick and mortar) organizations)
This has got to be the best content I've read on the net since the CaTB! Awesome! Please tell me you've got a website with this on it! If not I'd like to put it up.
Ok Bruce I respect you and ESR more than you would ever realize, but in your posts you keep talking about trying to open up dialog between you and ESR to resolve this. I don't see "Certainly your criticism of RMS as bad as anything I've ever directed your way" as helping. RMS is not in this argument, he's not the one ESR's not speaking to. If you *want* to resolve this then talk like logical adults. Not he-said-she-said bickering that only serves to prolong the chism. I understand the concerns you raised with Apple's initial license, but quite frankly Lambasting ESR did little to help. If you want to solve this, then do so, if you want to argue then quit pertending to not argue. You can't have it both ways.
Amen! I LOVE Linux, BUT...Until it gets the productivity apps (StarOffice has a LONG way to go to top off97 in terms of Programmability, User Interface (if I don't like ActiveDesktop why the would I like an office suite taking over my desktop like Staroffice wants to?), IMNSHO, Linux needs: Consistent GUI GREAT IDE (unless you can convince newbie programmers that it's easier to program on a Linux boxen than say VB 5.0, your not going to attract the new programmers and Ideas Linux needs) Decent MTA, I single this out because there simply doesn't seem to be an "Outlook" or "Lotus Notes" killer MTA for Linux. On average most Home users spend a significant portion of their time in email. They want a friendly, stable, MTA that can read the HTML mail that looks so "keen". Super Webbrowser. Your home user lives in email and their Webbrowser when they aren't playing games. Netscape/Mozilla are still VERY buggy (if I get one more prompt bitching about multiple sessions I'm gonna scream) OPERA is a good competitor, but can it compete with IE? As bloated and convoluted as IE is, it's still got the majority of the market, so any competitor will have to plan not breaking support for it if they expect Home users to go for it. Better Hardware support. USB, Better P-n-P (much as I hate it, it's the defacto standard for new hardware). Better Printer Support. While looking for a Printer for my Linux box I was dismayed at the lack of choice (due to Manufacturer's not providing Linux Drivers). This will most likely have to come from the Printer manufacturer's as companies like Lexmark aren't going to release their API's anytime soon I'd love to see Linux Desktops rule the market, but until some very intensive effort is devoted to the core issues with using Linux as a desktop machine I don't look for it.
Slashdot Mirror
Ok a few points here.
1. You don't have to actually bring a system down or even seriously disrupt it to succeed in CT. All you must do is make the "Other Guy" Think you can. Or will. (see point 4) You must however have enough in the way proof to make the organization believe you can. Uncertainty about thier own security will do much of the work for you.
2. The "skills" neccessary are actually quite slim. You need a bit of experience with the industry you are tying to disrupt, a bit of inside knowledge of the company helps tons (ie: what OS it's running, what's the organization's default Passwd (most companies have them) ) And lastly you just need to know where to look for exploits. (aka "Kode Kiddiez", this is NOT real cracking, but will acomplish the goals you have set forth).
3. Few ties in the organization you are taking down. it's hard to be successful if your the prime suspect.
4. FUD (Fear Uncertainty Deception) can acomplish much, (ie: the Valentine Day's "hack" of AOL a few years ago. AOL responded, and was disrupted even though the "hack" did not take place)
5. Media ties. CT matters little if you can't get the media's attention. Most of the damage to an organization will occur from the public's reaction. (most true of non-traditional (non-brick and mortar) organizations)
Tadghe Djin
This has got to be the best content I've read on the net since the CaTB! Awesome! Please tell me you've got a website with this on it! If not I'd like to put it up.
Tadghe Djin
Ok Bruce I respect you and ESR more than you would ever realize, but in your posts you keep talking about trying to open up dialog between you and ESR to resolve this. I don't see "Certainly your criticism of RMS as bad as anything I've ever directed your way" as helping. RMS is not in this argument, he's not the one ESR's not speaking to. If you *want* to resolve this then talk like logical adults. Not he-said-she-said bickering that only serves to prolong the chism. I understand the concerns you raised with Apple's initial license, but quite frankly Lambasting ESR did little to help. If you want to solve this, then do so, if you want to argue then quit pertending to not argue. You can't have it both ways.
Tadghe Djin
'remove mordikyn from the mailto
Amen! I LOVE Linux, BUT...Until it gets the productivity apps (StarOffice has a LONG way to go to top off97 in terms of Programmability, User Interface (if I don't like ActiveDesktop why the would I like an office suite taking over my desktop like Staroffice wants to?), IMNSHO, Linux needs: Consistent GUI GREAT IDE (unless you can convince newbie programmers that it's easier to program on a Linux boxen than say VB 5.0, your not going to attract the new programmers and Ideas Linux needs) Decent MTA, I single this out because there simply doesn't seem to be an "Outlook" or "Lotus Notes" killer MTA for Linux. On average most Home users spend a significant portion of their time in email. They want a friendly, stable, MTA that can read the HTML mail that looks so "keen". Super Webbrowser. Your home user lives in email and their Webbrowser when they aren't playing games. Netscape/Mozilla are still VERY buggy (if I get one more prompt bitching about multiple sessions I'm gonna scream) OPERA is a good competitor, but can it compete with IE? As bloated and convoluted as IE is, it's still got the majority of the market, so any competitor will have to plan not breaking support for it if they expect Home users to go for it. Better Hardware support. USB, Better P-n-P (much as I hate it, it's the defacto standard for new hardware). Better Printer Support. While looking for a Printer for my Linux box I was dismayed at the lack of choice (due to Manufacturer's not providing Linux Drivers). This will most likely have to come from the Printer manufacturer's as companies like Lexmark aren't going to release their API's anytime soon I'd love to see Linux Desktops rule the market, but until some very intensive effort is devoted to the core issues with using Linux as a desktop machine I don't look for it.