Re: Disable database

blah_at_blah.com (blah) wrote in message news:<kqZ%a.610$U74.36258_at_news.optus.net.au>...
> HI,
>
> Just for fun I'd like to hear some ideas on how to disable a database which
> would take a DBA a long time to figure out.
>
> I thought a on startup trigger which does a database shutdown might stump a
> few DBA's.

Well, I agree with the others that you shouldn't hide behind an anon when asking questions like this, but I disagree in their apparent assertions that such things should be kept in the closet. See "security by obscurity" posts about viruses and such, particularly in comp.risks archives.

There really isn't anything new under the sun here. People have been putting in logic bombs at least since the '60s. In the old days, a good hack had different connotations than now, of course. What was once a simple joke is now a criminal act.

To really mess things up, you have to be able to obscure the problem. So I think the worst of the worst would be something that subtly corrupts data, so backups would be bad too. Of course, the real problem here would be distinguishing such a beast from a plain old bug.

I suppose one could always mess with the .bsq's... but writing "Kilroy Was Here" so it shows up unexpectedly in OEM might be entertaining. :-)

jg

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