ABSTRACT
One of the key advantages of the TCP/IP protocol suite is also a disadvantage. The advantage is its openness, with RFCs used to identify the manner by which the protocol suite operates. Unfortunately, this openness has a price: it allows just about any person to determine how the various components that make up the protocol suite operate. This capability enables people who wish to do harm to IP networks and computers operating on those networks to develop techniques to do so. In comparison, other protocol suites that were developed by commercial organizations may not be as extensively documented. Thus, people who wish to exploit the weaknesses of a protocol suite developed by a commercial organization may face a far more daunting task.
