The transitive trust relationships created by
peer-networking are exploited so as to expand privileges to the transitive
closure of peer trust. Examples include the activities carried out by the
Morris Internet virus in 1988, the exploitation of remote hosts (.rhosts)
files in many networks, and the exploitation of remote software distribution
channels as a channel for attack.
Complexity: Exploiting peer relationships
appears to be easily accomplished, requiring only a cursory examination of
history for a set of candidate peers and trial and error for exploitation.
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