I must say, I'm impressed with how this was handled both by the original researcher and DigitalOcean.
Apparently they ignored it :)
What's happening on the left side? Is that you or the rep?
edit: actually I didn't realize there was a skype window up when I took the screenshot, thanks for warning me...
Your ticket had two problems described. The tech probably didn't understand the significance of the first problem, and so just discarded the information. Then she answered your second question. When you've got 100 tickets to sort through in your 8 hour day, you simply have to make some compromises on the thoroughness of your response.
To get her attention, it would have been better to explain a little about what the consequences are, and request that she have a developer follow up. Make it clear that it's a major security failure and could lead to compromised VMs.
Then open a second ticket for your other issue.
It's not a huge deal to me, but if Linode did the same thing, you all would be foaming at the mouth. Just thought I would point this out.
In case anybody is wondering, I'm referring to Volkswagen.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/29/uk-court-volkswagen-megam...
Personally I'm an advocate of full, anonymous, and public disclosure.
Imagine if we applied the same logic to phones and other devices -- I wouldn't be surprised if you personally would be offended at the idea that you have little recourse over your phone being hacked remotely and you can't do a damn thing about it because the mobile handset manufacturer locked it down. Thankfully phones are subsidized, ubiquitous, and cheap, so you can take your phone anywhere and get it fixed/replaced.
This is the future folks: locked down devices that you have no control over.
Caveat: we're all plugging our phones into these insecure systems too. Wrap your brain around that for a second to see where I'm going with this.
Leaving the responsibility to fix these security flaws in the hands of the automobile manufacturers is dangerous and foolish, they simply don't have the means nor the interest to fix these security flaws.
This is one of the most obvious cases where FLOSS shines -- everybody and anybody can fix their broken software because they know what's running on their machines and the machines are open and accessible to those that need it most: end-users.
e.g. When I golf, I refuse to take mulligans because it keeps me in a state of mind of, "this is my only chance". Whenever I break this rule, the rest of the day my golfing is worse.
The immediate workaround may not be possible. In that case, they're just screwed. A company is not entitled to be able to save themselves from the consequences of their past fuckups in all situations. Sometimes, a mistake costs a lot of money or even kills the company. Perhaps this is one.
I find it unlikely that it's impossible to disable the keyless entry system on the cars in question. Surely there is some fuse or wire that can be pulled to shut it off. But it ultimately doesn't matter. Finding a workaround quickly is what they need to do, and if they can't do it, that's not his problem.
Even in the absolute worst case that the vulnerability is somehow built into the very fabric of the car, you can still secure it by removing all valuables from the interior and then clamping a wheel with a boot. Remove the boot once you figure out a fix. Inconvenient to the owner to be sure, but not impossible to deal with.
Harm to the end user is not my priority. Harm to society is, and it's clear to me that the long-term chilling effects on academic research far outweigh any temporary harm from VM issuing a recall or even going bankrupt.
The alternative is to say that entity B should suffer from a restriction on their free speech simply because entity A, due to their own negligence, finds it excessively costly.
There are so many different ways this could be handled other than "threaten to throw the researcher in jail if he doesn't shut up". But they are all more inconvenient and costly to VW. One can understand why, then, VW would go for the "threaten" option, if we think of VW as a sort of non-moral profit-optimizing organism. But I certainly can't understand why anyone would defend it, let alone say that we would do the same thing.
vs
Harm to the end user is not my priority. Harm to society is
Wholesale removal of personal transport (even 'while we work something out') is "harm to society".
the long-term chilling effects on academic research
Are you not overstating the significance of a paper? Does this paper hold the solution to free energy? The impending food crisis? Sure, it's not ideal, but let's not blow it out of proportion.
I repeat for the third time: it is highly unlikely that there is no temporary workaround. Clip a wire, pop a fuse, remove a module, or whatever, one of these will get the job done for the moment.
Finally, even if these cars must be disabled in the interim, it's hardly "wholesale", since it's just one brand of many. Alternatives exist.
Security research is important. Does this paper hold the solution to free energy? No, but the precedent set will discourage further research in this area, which could result in leaving the power grid vulnerable to black hats.
You say I'm overstating the significance of this paper. I say you're vastly overstating the significance of this paper, in terms of what would happen to VW, to VW owners, and to society in general, if the information got out.
The chilling effect on security research of these kinds of actions is fairly well established. There are real-world examples of security researchers deciding not to work on a particular project because they fear persecution. That's a loss to society.
On the other hand, there are no real-world examples of chaos resulting from disclosures of automobile security vulnerabilities, even though car security is, in general, quite lax.
So kindly please, stop with the hyperbole and hysteria.
Regarding 'wholesale', in context the term just means 'non-selective' and didn't mean every brand on the road. This being said, the arrogance of "Alternatives exist" has got to be pointed out: what alternatives? If you immobilise all the VWs, how will those commuters now proceed? Rent another car? Buy another car? Some might be able to catch public transport, but hardly all.
This links back to what I said about ideal vs real world - you think that it's tenable to just take one brand of vehicles off the road, which is clearly nonsense. Even if there were no temporary fix, the real-world response to fixing the issue would be to leave the cars available to the owners. The idea that you'd even contemplate booting as a considered option is just farcical.
You appear to be interested in an adversarial discussion in which you score as many points as possible, rather than a collaboration in which we enjoy ourselves and learn. I'm not interested in that, so I'll leave you to it.
Also, the researcher wanted to disclose this information without VW having fixed it. DigitalOcean got the opportunity to fix their system. Do you know what VW's next step is?