Re: Getting Off the Patch

["Thor (Hammer of God)" <thor () hammerofgod com>]

> No, I'm taking the position that "most people" are in fact solely relying
> on patching because they are clueless and they wouldn't even be patching at
> all if auto-update wasn't turned on. (And Cal caught on what I meant in his
> reply - that there's two very disjoint communities).
>
> And that changes the calculus of "best practices" - what's "best" at a shop
> that has thousands of managed nodes and a staff of dozens of experienced
> sysadmins is different from a shop that has dozens of machines and one
> semi-clued guy with a McSE. (We'll leave home machines out of the equation
> for now - it's safe to assume that *those* machines the operating system
> has to take steps to protect itself, including auto-patching, because the
> user won't do it).

My mistake then - I shouldn't have inferred your position from previous thread subject matter. 


> And that's something I've noticed is lacking from much of the discussion -
> the business case for deploying something.  Sure, something might well be
> more secure, but unless the added security is worth more than the added
> cost, time, and effort, it's actually a bad idea to deploy.

This is precisely what I asked for several times and never received.  When the idea was presented, it indicated a 
serious deficiency of any depth of knowledge just around security and engineering, not to mention the requirements for 
dev, legal and compliance.  Being the kind-hearted and generous type of person I am, I assumed that I was missing 
something, and that there would be an opportunity to review some sort of qualifying data.  There isn't any, so I 
reverted back to my original position. 

I don't always agree with your viewpoints, but I know that there is always merit to your position that I should take 
into account.  Not that you care or need my approval or agreement, but thanks for the clarification.

t

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