Security tools considered harmful

Security tools considered harmful

Posted Feb 16, 2006 13:13 UTC (Thu) by The_Flatlander (guest, #19245)
In reply to: Security tools considered harmful by nix
Parent article: Cracking Passwords with John the Ripper

>> I can't see *any* definition of 'virus' which would include john (or libcrack, say); they're not malware at all. <<

I agree with you, but it is possible that a copy of of John could turn a small security lapse into a large one quite rapidly, so other than your sysadmins, you probably don't want anyone else having a copy of that. Moreover, if the anti-virus tool were scanning the stream, rather than just blocking the site, it seems quite likely, (to the point of certainty), that some actual trojans or other malware programs contain some of the same routines. (It isn't a great leap to figure that malware writers might have mis-appropriated such code to their own nefarious purposes.)

The Flatlander

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