The below just published by the LinuxMall newsletter. It should prove that not only junior sysadmins can make mistakes, so can very skilled admins as I am sure the Slashdoter's are. As I said, there are lessons to be learned, but I am not sure the lesson learned are those of which is better.. BSD or Linux. Seems each has benefits to the users that choose said OS, but the lesson that should be learned are those that appear to assist or teach how to improve the security of a system that relies on security. Slashdot: Yup, Somebody Cracked Slashdot The longtime open source hacker mecca reported a security breach on September 29. "The weakest link in any security system is human: on one of our test boxes, we had a `clean' copy of Slashcode installed, with default data--including the temp admin password (God/Pete). It didn't take much after that to get into Slashdot itself." http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/09/29/1245218&mode=nocomment Jerry >Actually, in my CISSP training the point was emphasized that securing >evidence was legally important, but avoiding further harm to victims was also >very important. There are techniques that are used to preserve the evidence >in a chain of custody that is legally valid while also addressing the need >for expeditiously returning the equipment to service. > >Consider that if the system can be preserved in the cracked state whilst >awaiting law enforcement response, without immediately being restored to >service, it can probably be left offline long enough for a good image backup >or hard drive swap to be done. > >Also, there may be a distinction made in the handling of systems belonging to >victims versus suspects' property. Personally I can't get as sympathetic >about the confiscation of some script-kiddie's toys as I would be about the >tools belonging to a legitimate business. > >Finally, I'd expect that the quality of response from various law enforcement >agencies would vary. They're human after all, and thus both fallible and >subjective, but in my fairly extensive experience with them they are mostly >quite professional. If there is reason to expect that they would not handle >a case well, perhaps some pro-active education is in order? > >Personally I'd bet the handling by law enforcement personnel would be of >higher quality than the handling by college administrators and others of the >PHB class... > >--Bruce McCulley > >Willard Flagg wrote: > >> On Wed, 4 Oct 2000, Derek Martin wrote: >> >> > likely. The only allowable "retribution" is involving law enforcement, >> > which in all likelihood is worse than the disease... >> >> I was wondering when someone was going to mention the downside of >> contacting law enforcement. If you do convince them to take action it is >> likely that their first step will be to impound all of your equipment. >> Nice guys that they are. >> >> -wf > > >********************************************************** >To unsubscribe from this list, send mail to >[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the following text in the >*body* (*not* the subject line) of the letter: >unsubscribe gnhlug >********************************************************** ----------------------------------------------------------------- Jerry Kubeck Customer Support Appropriate Solutions, Inc. [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.AppropriateSolutions.com ********************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the following text in the *body* (*not* the subject line) of the letter: unsubscribe gnhlug **********************************************************
