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. _______________________________________________ Full-Disclosure - We believe in it. Charter: http://lists.grok.org.uk/full-disclosure-charter.html Hosted and sponsored by Secunia - http://secunia.com/