I'm sorry, my tone was not intended as "what are you even talking about!?!". My tone is intended to convey that security penetration skills have become scarily good and "is it theoretical?" is almost no longer a question worth asking, because the skills, techniques, and tools to take what superficially seems to be a hairline crack into full-blown network ownership are unbelievably well developed.

As I said, I am on the defense side myself, and I will freely admit I can get a bit tetchy when doubt of the viability of a vulnerability occurs; I frequently find myself in the position of being a "team captain" trying to explain that, no, seriously y'all, the other team is coming to play, they've been working out, they take illegal steroids, they practice six days a week, they don't play by the rules and they're coming for our scalps and you're on your third beer telling each other how easy this is going to be... it's not exactly game-winning prep you're doing here....