Re: Vulnerabilities in some SCADA server softwares

[R Michael Williams <rmwstealth@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

While I support full disclosure, I also advocate responsible disclosure.  The 
public _has_ a right to know, but in this case, they can play no significant 
part in remedy or mitigation unless they are employees of the vendor or the 
customer.  I believe the best course of action for a SCADA vulnerability would 
be to let the vendor know first, let them know you intend to disclose publicly 
after a reasonable time, then release to the potential customers in a 
responsible time thereafter, and finally the public  (admittedly could be very 
arbitrary per researcher).  This way you can hopefully get the fix started and 
let the security-conscious vendor notify customers how to defend in the interim 
for defense purposes _before_ you let a potential attacker in on the problem.  
Just my $0.02...

Sent from my mobile launching platform...

On Mar 22, 2011, at 16:24, Michal Zalewski <lcamtuf@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>> Analogy: Car owner has his car speed up ending up in almost near
>> catastrophe. Car owner goes to media outlets condemning the
>> manufacturer: "How could you be so reckless! Thousand of lives..."
>> Reality: Car manufacturer was never made aware of the issue. How do you
>> propose a manufacturer fix an issue?
> 
> Yes, the discussion definitely needed a car analogy...
> 
> The author decided to follow a particular route, probably not out of
> malice, but because he believes that his responsibilities to inform
> the public outweigh the responsibility to assist the vendor. You
> wouldn't do the same, but you haven't discovered these bugs.
> 
> Unless your view is that you would rather not know about about
> security problems at all, than see a disclosure mode you do not agree
> with, I do not think it's fair to lash out against the reporter; and
> it's not particularly fitting to do so on BUGTRAQ.
> 
> /mz