Politicians can't control (or secure) the Internet

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around the challenges of internet security and the role of government versus private entities in managing and securing the internet. Participants explore the effectiveness of government intervention, the responsibilities of internet service providers (ISPs), and the nature of cyberattacks.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants argue that government agencies like the CIA and FBI lack jurisdiction over foreign cyberattacks and should focus on encouraging private companies to enhance their security measures.
  • Others suggest that internet security should be managed by professionals rather than politicians, emphasizing the importance of individual awareness and proactive measures against attacks.
  • One participant compares scanning to a non-committal act, suggesting that not all scans indicate malicious intent, while also expressing concern over more aggressive attacks.
  • There is a proposal that ISPs should be responsible for maintaining internet security and monitoring for DDoS attacks, with some advocating for a government watchdog to oversee ISP compliance.
  • Concerns are raised about the effectiveness of ISPs in handling abuse reports, with one participant sharing negative experiences regarding the lack of response to serious security issues.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a range of views on the role of government in internet security, with some advocating for a hands-off approach while others believe in the necessity of oversight. There is no consensus on the best model for managing internet security or the responsibilities of ISPs versus government entities.

Contextual Notes

Participants highlight various assumptions about the nature of cyberattacks, the effectiveness of current security measures, and the responsibilities of different stakeholders in maintaining internet security. The discussion reflects a lack of resolution on these complex issues.

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http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/12/07/tech.security.reut/index.html

I've made a previous post that stated how many relay attempts or exploit scans I receieve daily from foreign addresses. When is the government going to realize that a very small percentage of "cyberattacks (jeez, they should get with the times)," are orchestrated from within the United States' boarders? Certainly, strengthening the CIA or FBI cybercrime (there's that "cyber" again) divisions isn't going to help, given those authorities have no jurisdiction in China, for example.

What those respective agencies should be doing is giving Microsoft (just an example), a kick in the rear to increase their concerns about security. I'm thankful to see Firefox's wide acceptance, and the government's condemnation of Internet Explorer. This, however, is only a very small portion of the vulnerbilites available to a malicious attacker.
 
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"Politicians can't control (or secure) the Internet"

Long may that statement hold True!...

Seriously why would you want them to? I think we should leave securing the internet to the professionals, like you and me! We all know about the exploits and as long as we keep up to date then we can more or less fight of most attacks...

A scan is like thinking about stealing some bread in a shop, perhaps even picking up the bread, but then desiding to put the bread down again with-out actually doing anything! I also receive these scans everyday on our Border Routers and Firewalls... If you leave your shop open over night and you get all you stock stolen then whos fault is it? The Goverments or yours?

A proper cracker Is not going to use his/her IP address when the are attempting to get into your Network, this "Foreign" address may well be someone proxying from within your Country the USA...

The internet is Free, some people will abuse the system its not perfect but I would prefer a free system of open standards, than one that isnt...

Spam is a different thing altogether, All Goverments should be lobbing the large Technology shops to devise methods to rid the internet of Spam...

Just my opinion
 
Anttech said:
"Politicians can't control (or secure) the Internet"

Long may that statement hold True!...

Seriously why would you want them to? I think we should leave securing the internet to the professionals, like you and me! We all know about the exploits and as long as we keep up to date then we can more or less fight of most attacks...

A scan is like thinking about stealing some bread in a shop, perhaps even picking up the bread, but then desiding to put the bread down again with-out actually doing anything! I also receive these scans everyday on our Border Routers and Firewalls... If you leave your shop open over night and you get all you stock stolen then whos fault is it? The Goverments or yours?

A proper cracker Is not going to use his/her IP address when the are attempting to get into your Network, this "Foreign" address may well be someone proxying from within your Country the USA...

The internet is Free, some people will abuse the system its not perfect but I would prefer a free system of open standards, than one that isnt...

Spam is a different thing altogether, All Goverments should be lobbing the large Technology shops to devise methods to rid the internet of Spam...

Just my opinion

Well, I concur that the government's responsbility shouldn't be to secure the Internet; it should be left to professionals. However, I'm growing tired of hearing moans and groans from Bush and all of his cronies about the demand for Internet security. The fact is, they can't do anything about it.

I say if they're going to talk about it, they need to enforce it by coming down on large Internet corporations, such as Microsoft that, at the moment, produce insecure software. This also brings up a different point of the argument - should the government only control (or be concerned with) residential or civilian Internet security, leaving corporate security to their respective IT departments? Afterall, most attacks are conducted (not neccessarily originate), from residential systems. Today, with broadband becoming commonplace, it's easy to gather up a few gigabits of bandwidth to conduct a DDOS attack.

As far as scanning is concerned, I suppose there are different natures of it. I don't mind being portscanned, however, I do care about waking up and noticing my Apache logs are filled with IIS garbage. That's openly trying to attack me, and I don't tolerate it.
 
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Bush and all of his cronies about the demand for Internet security

Lets hope not, I have a feeling that Bush would have blockade up like in the UAE ISP's

should the government only control (or be concerned with) residential or civilian Internet security,

This should be the ISP's job IMHO, Perhaps the government should create a "watchdog" body that keeps checks on ISP's to ensure they are keeping the Internet as Secure as Possiable and DDOS free!

Any company who looks after any Border Gateway routers should be charged with keeping DDOS under survalance within their AS, and also other security anonlomies
 
Anttech said:
Lets hope not, I have a feeling that Bush would have blockade up like in the UAE ISP's



This should be the ISP's job IMHO, Perhaps the government should create a "watchdog" body that keeps checks on ISP's to ensure they are keeping the Internet as Secure as Possiable and DDOS free!

Any company who looks after any Border Gateway routers should be charged with keeping DDOS under survalance within their AS, and also other security anonlomies

I haven't thought about that. I have a very poor opinion of ISPs (most, very few exceptions). I've emailed abuse@*, time after time, and nothing is ever done. From time to time, the subject of the abuse emails is quite serious, such as a real system compromise; however, in that instance the ISP did nothing (never even received a reply).
 

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