L0pht's Warning to the U.S. Congress in 1998: Your Computers Are Not Safe

Who Would Want to Take Down the Internet?

White Hat Security | January 24, 2012

This is a question I often ask in response to those sounding the alarm that “hackers” can take down the Internet and that we all should be very worried. This is a warning I’ve seen consistently for years ever since The L0pht told the U.S. Congress they could take down the Internet in about 30 minutes. I’m not about to disagree with The L0pht’s claims, maybe they and others can, but more importantly I fail to see the motivation for why they, or anyone else fitting their profile, would want to. Interestingly enough, there is only one particular class of attacker where it would make sense to take down the Internet.

Source: http://www.pressreader.com/usa/the-washington-post1047/20150623/281479275057667/TextView

<more at https://blog.whitehatsec.com/who-would-want-to-take-down-the-internet/; related links: http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/business/2015/06/22/net-of-insecurity-part-3/ (NET OF INSECURITY. A disaster foretold — and ignored. LOpht’s warnings about the Internet drew notice but little action. June 22, 2015. Note that this is Part 3 or a 4-part series. The others in the series are: Part 1: The story of how the Internet became so vulnerable (http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/business/2015/05/30/net-of-insecurity-part-1/); Part 2: The long life of a ‘quick fix’ (http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/business/2015/05/31/net-of-insecurity-part-2/); and Part 4: How yesterday’s flaws are being built into tomorrow’s connected world) and  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVJldn_MmMY (Hackers Testifying at the United States Senate, May 19, 1998 (L0pht Heavy Industries). Uploaded on May 14, 2011.)>