[Hidden-tech] Security: Mac vs. Windows is no longer an argument

[Chris Hoogendyk]

Roger Williams wrote:
>>>>>> Robert Heller <heller at deepsoft.com> writes:
>>>>>>             
>
>   > In this [corporate] environment, it is perfectly viable for the various
>   > in-house office workers to share all sorts of legitimate company stuff ...
>
> Naw... you can't tell me that there's ever an excuse for automatically running
> executables received in attachments.  Macros in Word documents are a different
> issue (running with root permission?  Hello??) but they aren't the primary
> infection vector for spam-distributed malware.
>
>   > The problem is that when a home user ... connects a MS-Windows machine ...
>
> No, I don't buy that argument.  The trade journals report that 99%+ of the
> machines on botnets are behind decently-maintained firewalls at big
> corporations.  And the system administrators at Intel (as an example of one of
> the more vigilant big companies) tell me they can't do much about the problem
> as long as they support Windows.
>   

Well, that's because the wire is protected, but the user walks past the 
firewalls and all with their usb key or their CD or their diskette and 
plugs it directly into their PC carrying with it whatever they got 
nailed with at home.

The user can also still get nailed by websites that are either crooked 
or compromised. Click on a link and download something and . . .

Once the infection is inside the firewall, it runs rampant.

Since big corporations have so many PCs, and often can't keep up 
maintenance and purchase cycles, you then have the 99%+ statistic quoted 
above (although, being skeptical, I don't necessarily buy that 99%+, 
exactly, without further checking).


-- 
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Chris Hoogendyk

-
   O__  ---- Systems Administrator
  c/ /'_ --- Biology & Geology Departments
 (*) \(*) -- 140 Morrill Science Center
~~~~~~~~~~ - University of Massachusetts, Amherst 

<hoogendyk at bio.umass.edu>

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Erdös 4