"H M" wrote in message
...
in Win 98 it was impossible to send packets with spoofed IP addresses.

With the Microsoft-supplied software, true. With add-on software, not true
at all.

that feature was only included in XP. now every PC running XP can
participate in DrDOS attacks on other computers, with or without the
owner's consent or even knowledge (if someone manages to install a
zombie or a bot on the system).

Every PC running Windows 98 (or any other operating system) can participate
in denial-of-service attacks on other computers, with or without the owner's
consent or even knowledge. Raw sockets have NOTHING to do with this. In
fact, raw sockets are only really important for a DOS attack if the attacker
is using their own machine, since they don't care if a zombie machine is
easily traced.

the decision to include fully open raw sockets was FOOLISH.

If you actually knew anything about network security, rather than just
blindly believing what you read on Steve Gibsons lame-ass web site, you
wouldn't say so.

the ONLY people who NEED raw sockets are system
administrators (for testing purposes, and even that doesn't require
FULLY open raw sockets) and evil hackers (to attack other systems).

Why are you running your XP machine with admin privileges? On XP, only
adminstrators have the ability to use raw sockets.

Which, by the way, is exactly as it is in OS X, Linux, and other Unix
variants. The decision for XP to include raw sockets was primarily based on
the fact that Windows was not compliant with the socket standard. Including
raw sockets made XP work the same as other operating systems.

sys
admins (should) know better than attack other systems, and evil hackers
have no business doing what they do.

Raw sockets have nothing to do with whether evil hackers do what they do or
not. Any hacker who wanted to use raw sockets would have just set up a
Linux box.

XP has been out for quite a while now. Where are all the raw-socket DOS
attacks that Gibson claims were going to happen?

Pete