-----Original Message----- From: Gregory Taylor [mailto:greg@xwb.com] Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2004 3:55 PM To: Rachael Treu Cc: nanog@merit.edu Subject: Re: Counter DoS Yes, lets allow the kiddies who already get away with as little work as they can in order to produce the most destruction they can, the ability to use these 'Security Systems' as a new tool for DoS attacks against their enemies. Scenerio: Lets say my name is: l33th4x0r I want to attack joeblow.cable.com because joeblow666 was upset that I called his mother various inappropriate names. I find IP for joeblow.cable.com to be 192.168.69.69 I find one of these 'security' systems, or multiple security systems, and i decide to forge a TCP attack from 192.168.69.69 to these 'security systems'. These 'security systems' then, thinking joeblow is attacking their network, will launch a retaliatory attack against the offender, 192.168.69.69 thus destroying his connectivity. Kiddie 1 Joeblow 0 The Internet as a whole 0 Greg --- Rant/ Their solution isn't the best idea out there, but something definitely needs to be done, and quickly. Network providers shouldn't have to purchase 4x the amount of bandwidth that they need just in case someone hijacks a bunch of cable modems and wants to party. Perhaps their bad idea will lead to a better idea, its happened before with how many countless practices on the internet? You start with a blurry idea, then someone else takes it and makes it work. Im not saying ddosing people back is the best idea, but something needs to happen, we waste way too much time and money mitigating these attacks, when in reality they cant be mitigated unless you continue to throw cash into the bandwidth bucket. These DSL and cable modem companies need to tighten things up so that if their users are abusive (and I don't claim to know how exactly the parameters of abuse should be measured) that their systems automatically choke them. For example, I have a Cable modem /w rr at my home, they have my upstream limited to next to nothing, how much damage could I possibly do? On the other hand I've seen attacks from some residential DSL providers that have hit with over 500KB(bytes)ps from a single machine, if you have maybe 20 of these hitting one of your interfaces, its going to cause latency, unless your upstream, or their downstream is doing something to protect you, which they wont. /Rant -Drew