Re: UTTER HORSESHIT: [was January 15 is Personal Firewall Day, help the cause]

[Kenton Smith <ksmith () chartwelltechnology com>]

These have got to be trolls. This is the most pathetic argument I have
ever heard for not using security products.
The software we use is bad and inherently insecure, people don't know
what they're doing. Therefore the only solution is to open it all up and
wait for the software vendors to fix all the software problems. That's
the b*llsh*t.
I know most of the people on this list don't have time for anything but
themselves so I don't expect you to pay any attention to something like
this. You just stay in your holes and keep looking for vulnerabilities.
I know when everyone eschews personal firewalls as these brilliant posts
suggest, your jobs will become much easier.
Some of us actual believe (because we've seen proof) that a little
education goes a long way. Instead of using your vast knowledge to tell
people the weaknesses in these products, why don't you take a few
minutes out of your valuable time to show people how to use one
effectively?

This is just another example of what a waste of time this list is
becoming. Many of the people on here care nothing about security, they
only care about berating everyone else and the choices they make (and
I've fallen right into their stupid trap).

Kenton

On Thu, 2004-01-15 at 05:55, Erik van Straten wrote:
> "http-equiv () excite com" <1 () malware com>:
> > We hereby reject this utter horseshit unreservedly.
>
> Agreed - when it's intended to "protect" aunt Annie's Xmas present.
>
> It just makes NO SENSE to have PC's listening on lots of ports, by 
> default on any interface, and then add a PFW to prevent anyone from 
> accessing them.
>
> (much like building a wall in front of your house because your doors 
> and Windows(TM) have broken locks).
>
> In particular because most Annie's have no clue what IP is, and 
> undesired egress traffic easily bypasses PFW's (if the malware hasn't 
> shut down the darn thing right away).
>
> Classic PFW = Snake Oil: http://www.samspade.org/d/firewalls.html
>
> If Annie's weren't members of Administrators, and members of 
> Administrators would not have access to apps like IE and OE, and 
> WindowsUpdate would not require admin privs to download, and there 
> wouldn't be so many privesc sploitz, and the FS and registry would 
> have much tighter perms by default, PFW's *would* make sense - for 
> blocking undesired egress traffic.
>
> That is, provided that the PFW reliably starts before net I/O is 
> possible, runs in "Safe Mode With Networking", and is not crowded 
> with bugs itself.
>
> Cheers,
> Erik
>
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