Computer Security World in Mourning Over Death of Dan Kaminsky, Aged 42
upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:
Computer security world in mourning over death of Dan Kaminsky, aged 42:
Celebrated information security researcher Dan Kaminsky, known not just for his technical ability but also for his compassion and support for those in his industry, has died. He was 42.
Though Kaminsky rose to fame in 2008 for identifying a critical design weakness in the internet's infrastructure - and worked in secret with software developers to mitigate the issue before it could be easily exploited - he had worked behind the scenes in the infosec world for at least the past two decades.
Not that Dan was the celebrity type. When he disclosed the DNS poisoning flaw at that year's Black Hat conference, he looked distinctly uncomfortable in a suit - the first time many had seen him wear one - though when it came to explaining the vulnerability and its solution, he was unparalleled.
When your humble Register hack asked him why he hadn't gone to the dark side and used the flaw to become immensely wealthy - either by exploiting it to hijack millions of netizens' web traffic, or by selling details of it to the highest bidders - he said not only would that have been morally wrong, he didn't want his mom to have to visit him in prison. You can read more technical info on the DNS flaw here.
Besides discovering the domain-name system weakness, he had been a stalwart of the security research scene for years, and was a much-loved regular at conferences big and small. You can find a YouTube playlist of his DEF CON presentations, for instance, here. He would talk with and advise anyone - even paying the entrance fees for some researchers or letting them crash in his hotel room floor - and it was this generosity that people are overwhelmingly remembering this weekend.
[...] There is now a move to see Kaminsky inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame. It is an accolade he thoroughly deserves.
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