Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] Computer Crime

[Rick Buford <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

Jerry Gamblin wrote:
> Maybe you don't know how un-serious this is. You cant really DOS a
> website by hitting F5.  I went to the website
> (http://lake.stark.k12.oh.us/) he DOS'd with the magic F5 key and it
> is 19 kilobits. Once the images are cashed on your local drive it is 3
> kilobits.  So, It would take 341 people refreshing at the exact same
> time to cause a 1 meg spike in the bandwidth to that server for one
> second. To keep that up over a minute you would need  20460 people
> hitting the F5 key at the right time.
>
> It was a joke the kid was charged with a felony, this should have been
> handled in the school.  If he gets put in front of a judge with no
> computer knowledge and is found guilty the kid will have the rest of
> his life ruined over nothing.

I agree with Jerry here. If the kid had setup a small botnet to run 
httpperf against the site, that would be different. The article is 
written by someone who is apparently quite computer ignorant because the 
impression that I get is that the F5 key is some 1337 hacker tool vs the 
built-in refresh button.

Oddly enough, there's no mention of this on the first page of the site.

While I think the kid should be punished, this is analogous to him 
carrying a bullhorn around in the hallways, not of robbing the local 
7-11. If they are really interested in, as their Mission states, 
"guarantee[ing] all students a superior educational experience", then 
take this kid (after some disciplinary action) and put him to work on a 
computer. If he came up with this on his own, he's probably intelligent 
and bored. Give him something to focus that energy on and he'll excel.

Rick

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