Re: furor over Cisco IOS router exploit erupts at Black Hat

[Randy Marchany <marchany () VT EDU>]

> Based upon Cisco's reaction, I'm rather concerned about this material that
has >been shared with the hacker community.

While I completely agree with Cisco's reaction to this, let's not forget a
couple of things:

1. Black Hat is NOT the only venue that hackers use to exchange info.
2. By the time it gets to Black Hat, it's been in the "underground" hacker
forums for quite some time. The word was out already. This wasn't a "i just
discovered this hole the day before Black Hat!" situation. Black Hat is like
any other conference nowadays --- you have submission deadlines in advance of
the event. So, we're talking a 2-6 month window where the exploit was known
already.
3. Would we have heard of the problem any earlier if it hadn't been for the
flap over this disclosure?

        -r.