Penetration Testing mailing list archives
RE: New article on SecurityFocus
From: "Richard Zaluski" <rzaluski () ivolution ca>
Date: Mon, 9 Jan 2006 13:46:11 -0500
I agree with Brady, it's frustrating to hear the same thing over and over as an excuse. Even a little education goes a long way. Yes sure you will always have the few people who just don't get it but does that mean you abandon the whole concept? No, not in our books. We (iVOLUTION) are a training and services company and have done corporate training in Security Awareness. Even some of the basic principles we teach have an immediate impact on calls to the help desk. I think for the case of the 'Best Buy's' out there providing training along with a PC, it's a nice thought, but it's a cost to them unless they can market it and make money on it its not going to happen. The margins on PC sales are thin so any additional costs added on is a hard sell to management. Companies such as that are into moving inventory. Thanks Richard Zaluski CISO, Security and Infrastructure Services iVOLUTION Technologies Incorporated 905.309.1911 866.601.4678 www.ivolution.ca rzaluski () ivolution ca -----Original Message----- From: Brady McClenon [mailto:BMcClenon () uamail albany edu] Sent: Monday, January 09, 2006 12:13 PM To: Derick Anderson; pen-test () securityfocus com; focus-ms () securityfocus com Subject: RE: New article on SecurityFocus "If users could be educated it would have already been done by now" This is the attitude that is rampant in the technology sector that leads to the ignorant technology user. Those responsible for the education that believe users can not be educated create a self-fulfilling prophecy. I've heard so many time that "you can't expect users to understand that" as an excuse to not even try, that I'd like to scream. I've seen secretaries dependent on their typewriters and terrified of computers learn to the point were they are now dependant on their pc, and can't function without. Some became so proficient on office applications, that I later used them as a resource on other users problems. How often do a mail merge... Wait... Have I ever? Sure if you teach 10 people at best probably 8-9 will get it, but that's better then having not tried at all. Very few people are willing to try to educate their users. This is why is has been done by now.
-----Original Message----- From: Derick Anderson [mailto:danderson () vikus com] Sent: Monday, January 09, 2006 9:49 AM To: pen-test () securityfocus com; focus-ms () securityfocus com Subject: RE: New article on SecurityFocus-----Original Message----- From: Susan Bradley, CPA aka Ebitz - SBS Rocks [MVP][snip]What we need here is education of why we shouldn't be blindly clicking like we are. When you buy a new computer...where is the security education from the Best Buy or Dell?If users could be educated it would have already been done by now. I can't take credit for that opinion as Marcus Ranum (http://www.ranum.com/security/computer_security/editorials/du mb/) said it first. I think it's funny that you bring up Dell and Best Buy when Microsoft is the one with an EXECUTABLE image format. There have been quite a few image vulnerabilities in the last year or so but I don't remember any of them resulting from the built-in ability to execute code.But to say this is "It's probably bigger than for any other vulnerability we've seen" http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/03/technology/windows_virusthreat /index.htm?cnn=yes Gimme a break... it didn't stop the Internet [SQL Slammer],it didn'tshut down entire businesses [Blaster], but it did freak out the Security community.From what I can tell, Slammer wasn't a 0-day and neither was Blaster (at least the first set of worms). If memory serves, Slammer was the result of admins not applying a patch from Microsoft available months before the worm was released. Since then Microsoft patching has vastly improved and admin paranoia has gotten worse. The scariest thing about WMF is that it targets user interaction using what used to be the most innocuous file format besides plain text. Users are the hardest part of the network to secure - and with WMF it just takes one click. Derick Anderson -------------------------------------------------------------- ------------- -------------------------------------------------------------- -------------
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Current thread:
- RE: New article on SecurityFocus, (continued)
- RE: New article on SecurityFocus Brady McClenon (Jan 06)
- Re: New article on SecurityFocus Robin (Jan 06)
- RE: New article on SecurityFocus Jim Clausing (Jan 07)
- RE: New article on SecurityFocus Erin Carroll (Jan 07)
- Re: New article on SecurityFocus Drew Simonis (Jan 07)
- Re: New article on SecurityFocus Susan Bradley, CPA aka Ebitz - SBS Rocks [MVP] (Jan 07)
- RE: New article on SecurityFocus Derick Anderson (Jan 09)
- RE: New article on SecurityFocus Brady McClenon (Jan 09)
- RE: New article on SecurityFocus Larry Seltzer (Jan 09)
- RE: New article on SecurityFocus Brady McClenon (Jan 09)
- RE: New article on SecurityFocus Richard Zaluski (Jan 09)
- RE: New article on SecurityFocus Brady McClenon (Jan 06)