security through obsolescence??!@?!

[full-disclosure () lists netsys com (KF)]

This has to be one of the stupidest comments I have ever heard! Do you 
honestly think that there are not people with REAL skill out there... 
not just simple skript kiddies. I certainly hope that you wouldn't try 
to "secure" your network with an old redhat 4.2 box,  Xenix or an old NT 
3.51 server. Installing old software is NOT an effective means of 
warding off attackers... infact you may attract a more "old school" with 
"0-day" from back in their day. There has to be numerious issues in 
those old OS's that people have not told the vendors ... there were 
never any public patches made ... etc. Don't kid yourselves... and if 
you REALLY think this works... be so kind as to give us the IP addresses 
for these legacy machines.
-KF


> > Posted: 06/06/2002 at 12:10 GMT
> >   [724.gif] Here's an interesting way to secure an Internet-connected
> >   computer against intruders: Make sure the operating system and
> >   software it runs are so old that current hacking tools won't work on
> >   it. This was suggested by Brian Aker, one of the programmers who works
> >   on Linux.com, NewsForge, Slashdot, and other OSDN sites; he runs
> >   several servers of his own that host a number of small non-profit
> >   sites in the Seattle area. "I have one box still running a version of
> >   Solaris that's so old none of the script kiddies can figure it out,"
> >   Brian says. "They tend to focus on the latest and greatest, and don't
> >   have the slightest idea how to handle my old Sun box."