Closing people's systems down from "any" other software installations isn't necessarily the solution. It can delay progress in many cases, and not everyone has IT staff that may be as up to speed as necessary. The requirement should be more along the lines of software designed to scan the system for things like that and alert/remove it. That kind of requirement at least gives flexibility and a good kick in the butt to implement good assessment tools at the PC or network level. All it takes is one user outside the "norm" to mess up LOTS of work and policies trying to keep things right! Scott -----Original Message----- From: owner-nanog@merit.edu [mailto:owner-nanog@merit.edu] On Behalf Of Scott Weeks Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2005 2:16 AM To: nanog@nanog.org Subject: Re: Internet Attack Called Broad and Long Lasting by Investigators Eventhough this article wasn't specifically regarding network operations, it does come down to the most fundamental of network operating practices. Create policies and the procedures that enable those policies. Then enforce them VERY strictly. The crucial element in the password thefts that provided access at Cisco and elsewhere was the intruder's use of a corrupted version of a standard software program, SSH. The intruder probed computers for vulnerabilities that allowed the installation of the corrupted program, known as a Trojan horse In the Cisco case, the passwords to Cisco computers were sent from a compromised computer by a legitimate user unaware of the Trojan horse Folks that handle sensitive info (proprietary code, personal info, HIPPA FERPA, SOX, .mil, etc, etc) should be allowed to download software only from company servers where all software has been cleared by folks that're experts in evaluating software packages. Not from the general internet. scott