Re: putting an alias in my tnsnames for a change to report server

On 13 Jul 2002 16:31:00 -0700, rgaffuri_at_cox.net (Ryan Gaffuri) wrote:

<snippage of message history>

>There's nothing on this this server that would be of use to anyone. It
>was supposed to have been set up as simply being available in the
>building or so I
>was told.
>

I wouldn't be so sure about that, either. Intelligence doesn't usually come from snatching "the big plan" but from taking a lot of little pieces that, by themselves, seem trivial and meaningless. And in the case of a server, even though there is no data on it of any value whatsoever, if security is this lax, it seems reasonable that the exposed server could be used as a bridge to somewhere else.

On the first point, let me bore you with an example. Back in the '70's I was a trumpet player in an Army Band. (Still am, but in the National Guard now). Our manning chart was considered classified information. I thought it was rather anal. Of what possible value could it be to someone to know that a certain Army band was authorized one oboe player vs. two. Well, if you gather from one source how Army bands are structured, then from another source you find out how many oboe players a particular band is authorized, then you know what kind of band you're looking at. Now, since you previously learned how Army bands are structured, since you found out what size THIS band is, you know what size command (post, division, corps, army, theater) it is assigned to. Then, if from another source you find out that that band is deploying to Outer Sloboviea, then it is easy to figure out what size buildup/operation is being planned for Outer Sloboviea.

For want of a nail, a shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe, a horse was lost.
For want of a horse, a battle was lost.
For want of a battle, a war was lost.
For want of a war, a kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a nail.

--
Ed Stevens
(Opinions expressed do not necessarily represent those of my employer.)