Eugene Leitl wrote:
> In fact, the longer it takes before the worm strikes, the more
> dramatic will the effects be. If the worm strikes a decade from now,
> y2k will look like an infinitesimally small beer in comparison.
>
> How can one address it? TCP/IP is too complex to be implemented in
> hardware, and protocols stacks cannot be made secure. Even if, there
> is still the application layer. Even security by obscurity (system
> diversity, which is not necessary an observable trend) won't help if
> the code is smart enough to discover exploits autonomously.
>
> Does anybody see any workaround against this? I don't.
The obvious and politically correct answer:
* Encourage the use of open source software -- security holes are
found and fixed faster.
* Don't create an environment in which hackers are treated harshly
for relatively harmless exploits -- more holes found and faster,
perhaps well-behaved worms are created to seek out and report
exploitable holes.
Obscurity and diversity seem very different to me. I don't know if
increasing system diversity is an observable trend now, but it's
easy to think of reasons why it won't decrease and will likely
increase:
* I'd guess that unix, Microsoft, Macintosh, and various network
hardware accounts for nearly all of the systems on the net now.
None of these are going away.
* Both dominant providers are facing perilous product transitions
(Microsoft Win9x -> Win2k, Intel IA32 -> IA64). Each is very
likely to lose market share for this and other reasons, opening
up the field for new systems.
* Everything else that isn't connected but likely will be at some
point (phones, TVs, handhelds, electronic pets, etc.), adding
lots of diversity. This could be a problem though -- many of
these devices will probably be very insecure and unpatchable.
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