full-disclosure - Re: 0day: PDF pwns Windows

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Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2007 09:49:46 -0500 (CDT)
From: Gadi Evron <ge@...uxbox.org>
To: Jason <security@...enik.com>
Cc: Chad Perrin <perrin@...theon.com>,
	"pdp \(architect\)" <pdp.gnucitizen@...glemail.com>,
	Casper.Dik@....COM, full-disclosure@...ts.grok.org.uk,
	Crispin Cowan <crispin@...ell.com>
Subject: Re: 0day: PDF pwns Windows

On Tue, 25 Sep 2007, Jason wrote:
> You present a valid position but fall short of seeing the whole picture.
>
> As an attacker, nation state or otherwise, my goal being to cripple
> communications, 0day is the way to go. Resource exhaustion takes
> resources, something the 0day can deprive the enemy of.
>
> Knocking out infrastructure with attacks is a far more effective
> strategy. You can control it's timing, launch it with minimal resources,
> from anywhere, coordinate it, and be gone before it can be thwarted. The
> botnet would only serve as cover while the real attack happens.
>
> I am more inclined to believe that botnets in use today really only
> serve as cover, thuggish retribution, and extortion tools, not as
> effective tools of warfare. No real warfare threat would risk exposing
> themselves through the use of or construction of a botnet.
>

There is a difference between Sun Tsu-like stealth and civil war-like 
"throw bodies at it".

I quite agree 0days would be important tools, but not necessarily the only 
tool. Then, it would only be a fascilitating technology. A known 
vulnerability is also useful in many cases.

About botnets, they are at the very heart of the matter--not necessarily 
for being used in this fashion, but rather because the Internet is perfect 
for plausible deniability, and then, of course, there is the matter of a 
/fifth column/, inside your network.

 	Gadi.

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