On 28 Jan 97 , Todd Graham Lewis wrote:
> On Tue, 28 Jan 1997, Erwin Schuermann wrote:
>
> > Maybe a bit offtopic, but has anyone heard of the possibility to attack
> > a system with autonomous internet agents (independent agents, who search the
> > Internet for certain info).
>
> I'm not quite sure what you mean by this. "Independent agents" such as
> web worms (lycos, altavista, etc.) are simply programs which use normal
> protocols to interact with remote hosts. In this respect, they are no
> better (and are arguably much worse) vehicles for attack than specialized
> attack programs, and have no special advantage.
I meant, f.i., the web-worms like the one Alta-Vista uses. These
agents are also available for private use, so a person (e.g. hacker)
can also get them, or code one himself. IMHO these worms can only
use known holes in a system. Another point where they can be used is
for instance in a denial of service attack, by just putting several
copies of an agent on the web. I think this is a real threat. An
agent can do al the things on the web a normal person can do, and
that automatically, that means faster and in a more voluminous way.
I'm really eager to hear if someone has faced such an attack and if
i am overseeing another kind of attack that can be accomplished using
these agents
> Or do you mean manipulating Altavista or some "personalized search
> engine" to do your attacks for you? Maybe if you gave an
> example...
This is also an interesting point. Have you got infos or heard more about
such an attack. I'm really interested in this topic.
TIA,
Erwin Schuermann
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