Yes, I don't get this quote neither. I honestly am not sure how to interpret it. Does his lack of answer show that he has no clue about this million-node botnet thing ? Or that he does not want to talk about such a sensitive matter ?
Moreover, is any 3* general supposed to know what this is all about ? Are we talking about a specific general well versed in these matters ?
I submitted this story though, because I have not heard about this worm before and I found the speculations about the final goal of this attack rather surprising.
At Arbor, the people that were involved in FedGov sales heard a little anecdote about John Casciano, a retired Air Force Major General who advised the company. What we were told is, despite the fact that he retired in 1999, and despite the fact that he walked into the building in plainclothes looking like any business guy off the street, every uniformed person he passed saluted him. That's a 2-star, retired.
The idea that anyone in the military would have up-to-the-minute intel about malware doesn't ring true to me. My sense of it is, from talking to people who've worked there, the NSA deserves the reputation it has. The rest of the government is a backwater.
The idea that a Lt. General --- in command of 50,000+ unforms, roughly the equivalent of a Fortune 200 company plus rifles and tanks --- would have an opinion about Conficker seems even less likely.
(I never met Casciano, but I did get to go to the Pentagon a couple times --- it feels like the largest public high school you've ever been in, except that people brandishing automatic weapons stare at you when you come through the door. Apparently unless you're a ret. 2-star, in which case they salute.)
Moreover, is any 3* general supposed to know what this is all about ? Are we talking about a specific general well versed in these matters ?
I submitted this story though, because I have not heard about this worm before and I found the speculations about the final goal of this attack rather surprising.