Cutting through spin of vulnerability disclosures

17.10.2008

For people already well versed in the technologies being targeted, a lot of it is going to elicit the response of "well, duh, we already knew that". A response to that will be "Well, why haven't you done anything about it, then?".

Unfortunately for everyone, some of these technologies have become an essential part of our everyday existence and there really isn't anything better out there to replace them with. Even if there was, the cost to completely replace them would be likely to put the economic bailouts to shame. Others have the problem that the very feature that makes them so useful is the same one that the vulnerability researchers are trumpeting as being weak, except there isn't really another way to do the same thing.

To some readers this might read like some sort of mid to late 90s "manifesto", but fair's fair if vulnerability researchers are resurrecting old vulnerabilities from that sort of timeframe (the posturing is also eerily reminiscent of that time).