“The Insecurity of Security Software,” by Zonk, Slashdot, 19 June 2005, http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/19/1718222.

“Hunting for Botnet Command and Controls,” by Zonk, Slashdot, 19 June 2005, http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/19/1858233.

Network-Centric Operations calls for high-tech computer-to-computer networked systems to rapidly destroy the enemy in a decisive battle. Global guerrillas and other forms of irregular struggle call for using networks to make human-to-human social networks more powerful in a long process of wearing down the enemy.

I’ve written before on blitzkrieg v. erosion and the dangers of Net-Centric thinking. Now two stories about how human networks defeat computer networks.

Human-to-human networked “Good” Hackers defeat anti-Hacker computer-to-computer network

Uky writes “Convinced that the recent upswing in virus and Trojan attacks is directly linked to the creation of botnets for nefarious purposes, a group of high-profile security researchers is fighting back, vigilante-style. The objective of the group, which operates on closed, invite-only mailing lists, is to pinpoint and ultimately disable the C&C (command-and-control) infrastructure that sends instructions to millions of zombie drone machines hijacked by malicious hackers.” From the article: “Using data from IP flows passing through routers and reverse-engineering tools to peek under the hood of new Trojans [classic erosion , no decisive battle -- tdaxp], Thompson said the researchers are able to figure out how the botnet owner sends instructions to the compromised machines.”

Human-to-human networked “Bad” Hackers defeat anti-Hacker computer-to-computer network

H316 writes “BusinessWeek is reporting that, despite a number of software products meant to safeguard Windows PCs from harm, a rising number of them endanger their hosts because of poor design and flaws ["flaws" meaning networked machines were not able to achieve full spectrum technological dominance, which should be expected -- tdaxp]. From the article: ‘A new Yankee Group report, to be released June 20, shows the number of vulnerabilities found in security products increasing sharply for the third straight year — and for the first time surpassing those found in all Microsoft products.’”

When there’s no decisive battle — when men have time to think and plan — men always beat machines.

If you’re going to use technology (a knife, a gun, or an anti-hacker net), make it quick, or get out of the way.