all your .gov netadmins are belong to us
Major Variola (ret)
mv at cdc.gov
Sat Sep 21 16:20:24 PDT 2002
Wouldn't it be cool if a paki gunman shows up at a .gov NOC, just like
he did at the CIA some years back?
http://www.securitynewsportal.com/cgi-bin/cgi-script/csNews/csNews.cgi?database=JanR.db&command=viewone&id=122&op=t
VeriSign Inc has stopped providing access to
information about the .gov internet domain, which is restricted to
US government bodies, over concerns the data could
be used in planning internet attacks, ComputerWire has
learned. On September 16, the company posted a
notice on its web site saying that from September 13 (three
days earlier) it would no longer provide FTP access
to the so-called "zone file" for .gov, which contains the IP
addresses of all the name servers that point to .gov
domains. Ken Silva, VeriSign's director of networks and
security, told ComputerWire the company had removed
access to information "of potential value to hackers", and
that the decision was made "in conjunction with" the
General Services Administration, which administers the .gov
zone file.
Silva pointed out that while VeriSign manages the
.com, .org and .net zone files, and continues to make those
available to those willing to enter a no-cost
agreement with the company, it does not run .gov, and merely made
the data available as a free informational service.
Malicious hackers wanting to take down government web sites
would hypothetically be able to do so by
denial-of-service attacking the name servers associated with .gov
domains. It was not immediately clear if the .gov
zone file data is made available in bulk from other sources, but
the GSA does not seem to do so. Also removed from
the FTP site was the zone file for in-addr.arpa, which is
used for reverse-DNS lookups (when somebody wants to
find out what domain is associated with an IP address,
rather than the other way around)
It seems so logical to take that .gov WHOIS info
offline that you have to wonder why it wasn't done
last year. After all, who really needs to do WHOIS
look ups on government sites except hackers, mail
spammers that are harvesting government email
addresses and fearful folks who like checking where
the IP's of mysterious visitors to their web sites
originate from... I wonder whether the same will be
done for the .edu and .mil which also are prime
targets..
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