Re:"Egor, stop hacking Github"
by smsm42 on Monday March 05, 2012 @03:45AM
(#3665924)
Cleaning up after the breach constitutes of two parts:
1. Changing passwords, removing unauthorized changes/fraudulent transactions, etc. dealing with evil people accessing info that shouldn't be accessed.
2. Notifying clients of vulnerability existence, securing the system properly and changing procedures so that such kind of breach would have less chance of happening again.
In the white hat scenario, the first part does not exist and the white hat does not actually do anything harmful. The second part still exists and can cost tons of money, but this part is not the fault of the person who found the problem.
So while the costs _after_ a benign "intrusion" like was done to Github can be substantial - both in money and reputation, the costs _because_ of it are much less, since most of the costs weren't caused by it, it only exposed the pre-existing need of bear those costs. Like a doctor diagnosing somebody with serious illness - he's not at fault that the person now has to spend tons of money on drugs and medical procedures.
In the white hat scenario, the first part does not exist and the white hat does not actually do anything harmful. The second part still exists and can cost tons of money, but this part is not the fault of the person who found the problem.
So while the costs _after_ a benign "intrusion" like was done to Github can be substantial - both in money and reputation, the costs _because_ of it are much less, since most of the costs weren't caused by it, it only exposed the pre-existing need of bear those costs. Like a doctor diagnosing somebody with serious illness - he's not at fault that the person now has to spend tons of money on drugs and medical procedures.