Re: Re: DNS load research

> ... explain to us the worst possible scenario that _you_ can imagine for a 
> virus that wants to do the most damage to the Internet by using SPF.
Here is my worst-case scenario.  A year from now SPF and SenderID are 
locked in competition between two incompatible protocols.  Progress is 
slow, because most ISPs are waiting for the outcome before committing to 
install one or the other.  Along comes the "SPF-doom" virus, a DDoS attack 
on some prominent domains, maybe CNN and MSNBC, and maybe FTC, just to get 
the politicians pissed off.  SPF is part of it, but it really isn't the 
major part of the attack.  The virus writers had some other motivation for 
featuring SPF in the name, and including some bizarre SPF lookups in their 
attack.
Now you have a very big PR problem, much bigger than any of the technical 
problems we are talking about now.  The problem is to explain to the world 
what really happened, and why SPF isn't to blame.  Think of the CNN report 
about a year ago, interviewing the president of SCO about a DDoS attack 
they suffered.  I had to play it twice to see that my first impression was 
not what the SCO guy actually said, but what he implied.  The impression I 
had after the first viewing was that SCO was attacked by some "open-source" 
hackers.  The whole discussion was about how DDoS attacks work, the 
hacker's motives (fight over ownership of Unix), SCO's victimization, 
etc.  There was a short disclaimer from CNN at the end, but I didn't really 
hear that until my second viewing.
Of course, nobody would be so dastardly as to organize something like this, 
but it would be nice if we could make it completely implausible.  If it 
takes more than five minutes to explain to a CNN reporter the absurdity of 
blaming SPF, they will ignore the explanation and go with the sensational 
story.
-- Dave


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* David MacQuigg, PhD          * email: dmquigg-spf(_at_)yahoo(_dot_)com     *  
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