10 Infamous Moments In Security Research

1. SQL Slammer Researcher David Litchfield presents findings at Black Hat one week after Microsoft issues its SQL patch. Slammer worm that exploits that flaw dramatically slows Internet traffic in 2003.

2. Windows Plug and Play Internet Security Systems researchers in April 2005 discover Windows vulnerability that lets attacker take control of affected systems and remotely execute code. By August, Zotob worm exploits it.

3. Cisco IOS heap overflow Former ISS researcher Michael Lynn in July 2005 shows hackers could take control of a company's network. Cisco had issued a patch in April, but it still sues Lynn over the speech. The suit is later dropped.

4. Windows Metafile Researcher H.D. Moore and others post exploit code of this flaw in January, and researcher Ilfak Guilfanov writes unauthorized workaround. This prompts Microsoft to issue a patch five days ahead of schedule.

5. Oracle transparent data encryption Red-Database-Security researcher Alexander Kornbrust reports vulnerability in January 2006; Oracle patches it the same month.

6. Oracle PLSQL gateway Litchfield in January shows Black Hat attendees a vulnerability in Oracle's Procedural Language extension to SQL. Oracle has yet to patch.

7. Apple Mac iChat An unknown person posts on MacRumors.com an external link to the OSX/Leap.a Trojan on Feb. 13, 2006, the first virus for the Apple Mac OSX platform.

8. Internet Explorer createTextRange() Researcher Andreas Sandblad discovers flaw in March that lets hackers install malwarelike keystroke loggers. eEye Digital Security issues a patch.

9. Internet Explorer HTA files Dutch researcher Jeffrey van der Stad in March alerts Microsoft to problem with how IE processes HTML apps. Van der Stad pares back information about the bug on his Web site when Microsoft complains.

10. Sendmail SMTP server software ISS in March finds vulnerability in this popular Internet E-mail transfer agent. Sendmail issues patch immediately.

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