Network Security Blog

Cisco, ISS file suit against rogue researcher

Cisco tries to silence researcher

Black Hat: The Latest on Lynn and Cisco

Just in case you didn’t know, Black Hat is going on in Las Vegas this week. Michael Lynn, a security researcher, formerly of ISS, gave a presentation yesterday on a new vulnerability in the Cisco IOS, which could possibly be used to create a worm or virus that could affect routers world wide. Cisco and ISS were not amused, and are pressing legal action against Mr. Lynn.

I have to give Mr. Lynn major kudos; he quit ISS two hours before the presentation, knowing full well that he’d be facing legal action. But he felt that the vulnerability was too serious to hide, and that companies like Cisco shouldn’t be allowed to hide security vulnerabilities. He wants to help set a legal precedent for security researchers, defending their ability to publish their research.

I admire Mr. Lynn’s morals. I mentioned the incident to my wife, who asked what I’d do in his situation. Lynn mentioned in one interview that he is going to have a hard time making a car payment in the future; I could live with that. I have a wife, two kids, a house payment and all the other things that go with a family. If I was in his position, I would have had to let the presentation go. I hope the Electronic Frontier Foundation will be able to help him.

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