Should Michael Lynn have told at Black Hat or not?
- IT TOPICS:Networking, Security
Among the latest developments in the Michael Lynn story at the Black Hat conference is that the research analyst was served with a temporary restraining order barring him from discussing the flaw that could compromise Cisco's unpatched routers . The order was filed by Cisco and Internet Security Systems, Lynn's former employer, from which he either resigned or was forced to resign after giving a presentation on how a malicious hacker could exploit a flaw in unpatched Cisco router software that "could crash those systems or intercept Internet communications." According to Red Herring, Lynn explained his actions by saying,
"I feel I had to do what’s right for the country and the national infrastructure,” he said. “It has been confirmed that bad people are working on this \[compromising IOS\]. The right thing to do here is to make sure that everyone knows that it’s vulnerable.”
Cisco and ISS disagreed and said releasing the data was premature, says Network World. The two companies also filed a temporary restraining order against Black Hat to prevent the organization from distributing video of Lynn's presentation.
But Network World says their effort may be too late and that some copies of the CD may be in circulation.
In a statement on its Web site, Cisco said it "respects and encourages the work of independent research scientists; however, we follow an industry established disclosure process for communicating to our customers and partners."
The statement continued: "It is important to note that the information presented at the Black Hat Conference yesterday was not a disclosure of a new vulnerability or a flaw with Cisco IOS software. The research presented explores possible ways to expand exploitations of known security vulnerabilities impacting routers."
The company also urged its customers to "upgrade their software to the latest available versions."
Let's hope this issue is resolved quickly and in a reasonable way that fixes the flaw once and for all and gives Michael Lynn his due.
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