RE: Re: Pudent default security - Was: CyberInsecurity: The cost of Monopoly

[j <frobozz () frotz us>]

On Tue, 2003-09-30 at 05:57, Steve Wray wrote:
> Ok ok, 'Compulsory windowing operating systems'
> as compared with operating systems whose windowing
> desktop has a non-windowing layer underneath
> (and, in case anyone hadn't noticed, (in the case of Linux at least) 
> has perfectly adequate 'office' type desktop).
>
> I know that there are some nice tools for doing remote and bulk admin 
> for the latest iterations of the Windows operating system, but from
> what I've seen, they lack maturity and often cause more trouble
> than they help prevent (DCOM? Am I right? Does anyone leave remote
> registry on?)

Active Directory.  Domain Administrator.  Group Policy.  These things
are easy to handle in a properly built corporate Windows network, all
centrally, with a single 'wave of the hand'.  In theory, at least.  ;^)

The same is certainly NOT true of the masses of end-user boxes barfing 3
million pings/hour out their broadband.  As the report (accurately)
points out, that is the weak point, where the resource (shiny new P4 on
a cable modem) is run by a clueless 'user'.  They don't want to,
shouldn't need to, and often can't, keep up with the required effort to
secure their computer.  They'd rather throw $30 at it ('personal
firewall') and hope/assume.  And Linux isn't the solution for them
either, nor Mac - as a group they're unlikely to understand ANY platform
enough (or even care enough) to handle it 'properly'.

"In any sufficiently large group of people, most are idiots."

j

MCP.  Defenestrator.  Cynic.

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