Re: Secure host newbie - fun - humm

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Date: Tue, 06 Apr 2004 15:50:07 -0400
To: Ranjeet Shetye <ranjeet.shetye2@zultys.com>

Ranjeet Shetye wrote:

>Just cos an admin is helpless cos there is NO fix, does NOT exonerate
>the network admin of any blame, IF he or she KNEW that is an exploit
>available.
>
>
Yes, actually, it does.

Let's say I work for company A. Company A has a policy that uptime is
critical and a server with a vulnerability is found. It's not my
decision, as the admin, whether or not to take down the server. It's an
executive decision. And I guarantee you that almost every executive out
there will say "keep the server up". The cost of not keeping the server
up is often extreme loss of business. As the admin, I'm not responsible
for that decision nor should I be held responsible for it if I gave
people the proper information.

>In today's 24x7 broadband interconnected world, you have 2 options:
>1. Take down the server yourself.
>2. Hope that you do not get compromised and continue business as usual.
>(When you do get taken down, try to put it back together from backups.)
>
>Are there any other options ? That is what I was pointing out. Find out
>the cost of each option, and take the path with the lesser cost.
>Decision-making 101.
>
>
>
I'm not disagreeing with that per-se. I'm disagreeing that it's a human
issue.

I don't consider the presence of a buffer overflow to ever be a human
issue. It's a technological issue - plain and simple - that stems from
purely technological decisions. If you get hit with an attack the day
after the vulnerability is disclosed, that's not the fault of those who
left the server up -- it's the fault of those who attacked the server
and, to some extent, a problem caused by poor technical decisions on the
part of the producer of the software.

If you blame the admin because she chose not to DoS herself, you're
blaming the wrong person.

>e.g. Lets take a case where there IS a severe price to be paid for the
>NEGLIGENCE of KNOWINGLY running an insecure solution.
>
>If a US based service is hosting health records on a Linux server, and
>they KNOW that there is a kernel exploit that's available, BUT there is
>no fix available for it, then either they play safe and TAKE DOWN the
>server themselves, or prepare for a costly legal battle and/or a lengthy
>prison sentence if it can be proven that the admin was (deliberately ?)
>NEGLIGENT.
>
>
>
Actually, this is a great reason to use Free Software. If you're
running a critical application and need to fix something like this, it's
possible to do so. That's a case where, if the admin has enough time
and the entity hires enough admins so that they have time to address
issues like this, it would at least be possible to fix the problem.
With proprietary software, that's not the case.

>The court is surely NOT going to think that running data servers for
>24x7 (admin's desire) OR the health of the business (CEO's desire) is
>more important than the privacy of the health records. By law, EACH
>leaked health record will cost you $8 million + other civil and criminal
>proceedings if warranted + other intangibles like loss of customer
>trust, loss of reputation, etc. If that is worth keeping your servers up
>and running, you should make the decision accordingly. I wouldn't. I'd
>try to keep the service secure.
>
>
>
Listen, as a security specialist, I *know* that every single box that I,
you, and everyone else on this list touches is running some piece of
software that has a security hole that someone else knows about and has
an exploit for. I *know* that that exploit has not been released yet.
I don't consider that to be hypothetical, I consider it to be a plain
and simple fact.

By your logic, since I *know* that these exploits exist, it would be
irresponsible for me to not unplug all of our systems, and stay down
until these exploits are patched or until we can protect our systems
against them. But, when/if they are -- that means that there will be
more unpatched/unmitigated vulnerabilities laying around that I *know*
are out there but can't defend against -- causing me to be in a
perpetual state of disability.

At that point, we might as well just close down the internet because no
one will ever have a server up.

If I walk out onto the street, there's a chance that I could get hit by
a truck.

Let's say that I know that there's a certain brand of tire that are sold
with SUVs that often burst. By your logic, if I knew this and chose to
walk on the street, and I suddenly got hit by an SUV with a blown tire,
it would clearly be my fault because I knew that the risk was there. I
disagree with that outright because the problem was inherently technical
and choosing to stay in my house perpetually was not an option.

Your model here rewards only the ignorant -- because those of us who
aren't ignorant understand that just being on the internet puts you at
some level of risk and that there is no "100% I'm secure" level. You
are always vulnerable and you will always be vulnerable. The key is to
mitigate the risk and the name of the game is staying up and secure.

If, in the process of doing that, you spend much of your time down --
then the crackers and black hats have won against you. That's the name
of the game. If you don't like that answer -- I don't know what to tell
you, it's the situation we're in right now.

>This is very different from DoS attacks because in DoS, you dont get a
>choice, your server gets taken down for you. It's not a business
>decision taken on the basis of some calculated risk.
>
>
>
By your logic above it is, because by running a system that has a known
DoS-able condition, you're making the choice to be DoS'ed - by your
logic, that is.

A DoS condition is simply a denial of service. The state of a DoS is
not reliant on source of the denial. The effect is the same either way.

>And I DO think that security is a very black and white issue. Either you
>have it, or you dont.
>
>
>
Then, no offense, but you haven't done much real security work...

If security were so black and white, there wouldn't be many
compromises. Admins would get it and coders would find writing secure
programs easy. Bounds checking and input verification are only part of
writing secure applications. And the human factor of security will
NEVER be black and white. Security is not black and white. Simply by
believing that you've tricked yourself into insecurity.

                -Barry

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