--- Ed Porter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Are you saying the increase in vulnerability would be no more than that?
Yes, at least short term if we are careful with the design. But then again, you can't predict what AGI will do, or else it wouldn't be intelligent. I can't say for certain long term (2040s?) it wouldn't launch a singularity, or even that it wouldn't create an intelligent worm that would eat the Internet. I don't think anyone is smart enough to get it right, but it is going to happen in one form or another. I wrote up a quick description of my AGI proposal at http://www.mattmahoney.net/agi.html basically summarizing what I posted over the last several emails, including various attack scenarios. I'm sure I didn't think of everything. It is kind of sketchy because it's not an area I am actively pursuing. It should be a useful service at least in the short term before it destroys us. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Matt Mahoney [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2007 6:17 PM > To: agi@v2.listbox.com > Subject: RE: Distributed search (was RE: Hacker intelligence level [WAS Re: > [agi] Funding AGI research]) > > > --- Ed Porter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Matt, > > So if it is perceived as something that increases a machine's > vulnerability, > > it seems to me that would be one more reason for people to avoid using it. > > Ed Porter > > A web browser and email increases your computer's vulnerability, but it > doesn't stop people from using them. > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Matt Mahoney [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2007 4:06 PM > > To: agi@v2.listbox.com > > Subject: RE: Distributed search (was RE: Hacker intelligence level [WAS > Re: > > [agi] Funding AGI research]) > > > > --- Ed Porter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > Matt, > > > > > > Does a PC become more vulnerable to viruses, worms, Trojan horses, root > > > kits, and other web attacks if it becomes part of a P2P network? And if > so > > > why and how much. > > > > It does if the P2P software has vulnerabilities, just like any other > server > > or > > client. Worms would be especially dangerous because they could spread > > quickly > > without user intervention, but slowly spreading viruses that are well > hidden > > can be dangerous too. There is no foolproof defense, but it helps to keep > > the > > protocol and software as simple as possible, to run the P2P software as a > > nonprivileged process, use open source code, and not to depend to any > large > > extent on a single source of software. > > > > The protocol I have in mind is that a message contain searchable natural > > language text, possibly some nonsearchable attached files, and a header > with > > the reply address and timestamp of the originator and any intermediate > peers > > through which the message was routed. The protocol is not dangerous > except > > for the attached files, but these have to be included because it is a > useful > > service. If you don't include it, people will figure out how to embed > > arbitrary data in the message text, which would make the protocol more > > dangerous because it wasn't planned for. > > > > In theory, you could use the P2P network to spread information about > > malicious > > peers and deliver software patches. But I think this would introduce more > > problems than it solves because it would also introduce a mechanism for > > spreading false information and patches containing trojans. Peers should > > have > > defenses that operate independently of the network, including > disconnecting > > itself if it detects anomalies in its own behavior. > > > > Of course the network is vulnerable even if the peers behave properly. > > Malicious peers could forge headers, for example, to hide the true source > of > > messages or to force replies to be directed to unintended targets. Some > > attacks could be very complex depending on the idiosyncratic behavior of > > particular peers. > > > > > > > > -- Matt Mahoney, [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > ----- > > This list is sponsored by AGIRI: http://www.agiri.org/email > > To unsubscribe or change your options, please go to: > > http://v2.listbox.com/member/?&; > > > > ----- > > This list is sponsored by AGIRI: http://www.agiri.org/email > > To unsubscribe or change your options, please go to: > > http://v2.listbox.com/member/?&; > > > -- Matt Mahoney, [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > ----- > This list is sponsored by AGIRI: http://www.agiri.org/email > To unsubscribe or change your options, please go to: > http://v2.listbox.com/member/?&; > > ----- > This list is sponsored by AGIRI: http://www.agiri.org/email > To unsubscribe or change your options, please go to: > http://v2.listbox.com/member/?&; -- Matt Mahoney, [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- This list is sponsored by AGIRI: http://www.agiri.org/email To unsubscribe or change your options, please go to: http://v2.listbox.com/member/?member_id=8660244&id_secret=73450735-649fdc
