Firewall Wizards mailing list archives
Re: Worms, Air Gaps and Responsibility
From: Devdas Bhagat <devdas () dvb homelinux org>
Date: Tue, 11 May 2004 00:02:18 +0530
On 10/05/04 14:07 -0400, Mark Gumennik wrote: <snip>
Ron, This is exactly my point: If you want to put LINUX on the DESKTOP you have to use all the bells and whistles which makes vuln. on it equal to MS
No!. You do not have to use the same programs as the others. <insert standard biological analogy about the species and the individual here>
PS I'm glad I made such a splash, how wonderful it'd be to go back to the world were the knowledge of 25-30 network commands made us all look sacred. Speaking of LDAP , Kerb and other tools : obviously the use of them makes us look much better than such earthy things as MS AD or Novell NDS where all this staff is already built-in FOR THE DESKTOPS (not for the remote AAA).
Which desktops? Right now, I can classify desktops into four major types: 1> The corporate desktop. This is a standard desktop with specific applications needed for work. This desktop needs to be maximally restricted and locked down, with centralised AAA and other requirements. Some applications may only be available for Windows, others for Linux/BSD. This is where you really want open standards. LDAP, Kerberos, etc fit into this space. 2> The casual user desktop. This is the typical "Aunt Tilly" desktop. Used for email, some web surfing, IM, etc. This is the appliance desktop requirement. This desktop is currently affected by viruses, popups, and other crap which also hurts the rest of the Internet. Most of the dangerous applications running here need NOT be on the corporate desktop at all. 3> The power user desktop. This is where we want a non appliance desktop that is easy to manage by someone who really isn't a sysadmin by profession. Apple seems to be filling this space nicely at the moment. These users are likely to dual boot, and demand more from their computer than most users. However, these users, IMHO, can be educated to the point of maintaining security on their local systems. 4> The gamer desktop. Windows rules this space. Period. Also, irrelevant to the current discussion. The issue facing system administrators today is that there is no difference in the desktops for groups 1, 2 and 3. The requirements are different, but the same desktop and common applications are available and they cannot be removed on Microsoft Windows. Groups 1 and 2 are both appliance desktops, with vastly different requirements. If you want to compare a computer to an oven, the first is the oven at a bakery while the second is the one in your kitchen. Devdas Bhagat _______________________________________________ firewall-wizards mailing list firewall-wizards () honor icsalabs com http://honor.icsalabs.com/mailman/listinfo/firewall-wizards
Current thread:
- RE: Worms, Air Gaps and Responsibility, (continued)
- RE: Worms, Air Gaps and Responsibility Paul D. Robertson (May 11)
- AIX LPAR security hermit921 (May 25)
- Re: AIX LPAR security Paul D. Robertson (May 25)
- Re: Worms, Air Gaps and Responsibility Devdas Bhagat (May 11)
- widnows vs unix and security Re: Worms, Air Gaps and Responsibility ArkanoiD (May 12)
- RE: Worms, Air Gaps and Responsibility Gwendolynn ferch Elydyr (May 11)
- Re: Worms, Air Gaps and Responsibility Gwendolynn ferch Elydyr (May 10)
- Re: Worms, Air Gaps and Responsibility R. DuFresne (May 10)
- RE: Worms, Air Gaps and Responsibility Mark Gumennik (May 10)
- RE: Worms, Air Gaps and Responsibility Paul D. Robertson (May 10)
- Re: Worms, Air Gaps and Responsibility Devdas Bhagat (May 10)
- Re: Worms, Air Gaps and Responsibility Adam Shostack (May 10)
- RE: Worms, Air Gaps and Responsibility Gwendolynn ferch Elydyr (May 10)
- Re[2]: Worms, Air Gaps and Responsibility Paul Van Noord (May 07)
- Re[2]: Worms, Air Gaps and Responsibility Marcus J. Ranum (May 07)
- Re[2]: Worms, Air Gaps and Responsibility Eric Maiwald (May 07)
- Re: Worms, Air Gaps and Responsibility Vinicius Moreira Mello (May 10)
- Re: Worms, Air Gaps and Responsibility Bret Watson (May 10)
- Re: Worms, Air Gaps and Responsibility Gwendolynn ferch Elydyr (May 10)
- Re: Worms, Air Gaps and Responsibility Paul D. Robertson (May 10)
- Re: Worms, Air Gaps and Responsibility Gwendolynn ferch Elydyr (May 10)