Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2002 20:15:12 -0600 From: "Mike Meyer" <mwm-dated-1015899312.445e86@mired.org> To: Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com> Cc: Peter Leftwich <Hostmaster@Video2Video.Com>, Miguel Mendez <flynn@energyhq.homeip.net>, Cliff Sarginson <csfbsd@raggedclown.net>, freebsd-security@FreeBSD.ORG, chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: http://users.uk.freebsd.org/~juha/ Message-ID: <15494.52528.125952.145716@guru.mired.org> In-Reply-To: <3C86C11C.8A31C8BB@mindspring.com> References: <20020306191854.C2150-100000@earl-grey.cloud9.net> <3C86C11C.8A31C8BB@mindspring.com>
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Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com> types: > Peter Leftwich wrote: > > > A hacker looks, but does not touch; hacking is a result of a curious nature. > > Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle. The nature of the act of observation > > alters what it is you are observing, thus curiosity can crash a system > > and/or land your butt in jail near Big Joe's... > > Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle doesn't apply to macro > events, only to quantum events. Specifically, it states > that you can not simultaneously know the momentum of an > electron, and it's position within h-bar/2. While Heisenberg's uncertainty doesn't apply as described to macro events, the concept certainly works. If you instrument a kernel to find performance problems, you've just slowed the kernel down, and changed what routines get used when. And I'm sure we've all had the experience of adding a print to try and catch a bug, and the bug vanishes. Anyone who breaks into a computer system they aren't legally allowed to use is a cracker. The mere act of logging in takes cycles, which effects other processes on the system, especially if they are participating in a distributed computing project. Given that computers are so blasted cheap these days, and the availability of open source software, there's a lot of learning that can be done without stealing cycles from someone else. > Unless you have a Schroedinger's Cat device hooked up to > your computer, observations are not going to collapse any > probability wwaves to a certainty, thus effecting the > outcome of later observations. No, they'll just slow them donw, possibly screw up the accounting, and similar things that can make peoples lifes miserably. Read the book by the guy at LBL who helped track down a couple of crackers, even though they mostly used a "look but don't touch" methodology on his computers. His web site seems to be gone, or I'd send over there to order a Kleine bottle from him as well. <mike -- Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org> http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/ Independent WWW/Perforce/FreeBSD/Unix consultant, email for more information. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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