I've been reading the monthly security bulletin from sans.org for several years. During that time I've noticed some recurring themes, including multiple appearances from Adobe products like Flash.
Another recurring theme is ftp servers (of which there are dozens) like this month's report: Platform: Cross Platform Title: Wing FTP Server "ssh public key" Authentication Security Bypass Vulnerability Description: Wing FTP Server is a secure file server for Windows, Linux, Mac, FreeBSD and Solaris. Wing FTP Server is exposed to a security bypass issue that affects the SSH authentication mechanism. Versions prior to Wing FTP Server 3.8.8 are affected. Ref: http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/48335/info Mind you, this is the first time I've seen Wing mentioned, but over the years there have been dozens of other ftp servers cited for other flaws in security. My question: WTF uses these poorly written ftp servers? Why do they exist? Who asked for them? Who wrote the code, and why? My tentative guess: either evil programmers, or incompetent programmers. (I suspect the intersection of the two sets is very small.) Many years ago when I was still using M$ Windows I wrote my own hex editor in Visual Basic. I can't explain why I chose to do it, other than as an exercise to learn Visual Basic. (I haven't used it since.) I'm quite certain that my hex editor would flunk even the most basic security tests today because I wasn't programming with security in mind. (In other words, I was the rankest of amateurs.) I'm running out of indignation now, and going to bed, but I'd welcome other indignant comments :)
