On Sat, 24 Dec 2005, Rob Thomas wrote:
Hi again, NANOGers. :)
I shouldn't have focused solely on the bot issue, sorry. When miscreants obtain access to a server through some PHP exploit, they generally take a look around. If the web server is also a database server (eek!), then the real fun begins. There won't be a noisome bot placed on that server, oh no. One crew installed a cron script to run a SQL query for the new customer data collected in the past 24 hours, then email the query results to the miscreants. :(
DDoS can be very painful, and it has the side benefit of being very overt. It is the more subtle attacks and abuses that might concern you even more. It is generally the case that the tools and techniques for both are the same.
Amen.. main thing is that the problem is not going to go away, and by "killing C&C's" we just ignore the problem. I am not saying killing C&C's as a stop-gap is bad, but that stop-gap is now 6 years too old and 12 years since we should have thought of something different. Why? Because like you said in your earlier email.. the Bad Guys have smarter ways and get smarter de-centralized ways of doing things. That's why cooperation, especially with other industries, is also critical. But as I said, cooperation, as critical as it is, is yesterday's news.. time for the next stage. Gadi.