Re: Cowboys herding cats

In <guvqtc$djc$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

Ben Yalow <ybmcu@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"Keith F. Lynch" <kfl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
I've never claimed to be a computer *security* expert.

You don't have to be to avoid getting infected.

And yet millions *are* infected. And new exploits are found every
week or two.

Daily.

But new classes of zero-day exploits are much rarer, and proper
precautions stop the others. All it takes is one sample of the malware to
get recognized, and fixes start to come out.

And people who believe you need to be a security expert are
generally not well enough acquainted with current hardware and
software environments to be worth hiring.

Call me Socrates. I know how little I know. That puts me one up on
those who don't know how little they know.

But basic "how not to get infected" knowledge is easy enough that I
regularly put non-technical people on the net (yes - even running
Windows machines) with no ill-effects.

I'm skeptical, unless it's just a matter of luck, like crossing a
street blindfolded without getting run over. Either that or you're
psychic, and know about the next exploit to be discovered before
anyone else does, and install the patch before it's written.

No. I tell people to practice safe computing principles, and stay
current. And it works.

It's not 100% secure. Nothing is (as we can tell from the times that
Panix has been hit, and they're *very* good, although a more visible
target).

--
Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.

Ben
--
Ben Yalow ybmcu@xxxxxxxxx
Not speaking for anybody
.

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