backdoor threat

[Gary Gatten]

I guess you guys didn't get my humor in the "backdoor" threat?  Geez, if funny jokes aren't funny when no one gets them, and this reference was marginal at best!

-----Original Message-----
From: alexus [mailto:alexus at gmail.com] 
Sent: Monday, June 22, 2009 10:39 AM
To: Bill Moran
Cc: Gary Gatten; freebsd-questions at freebsd.org; prad
Subject: Re: backdoor threat

On Mon, Jun 22, 2009 at 11:36 AM, Bill Moran<wmoran at potentialtech.com> wrote:
> In response to "Gary Gatten" <Ggatten at waddell.com>:
>
>> OK - this thread is scaring me.  Anything that involves a "backdoor"
>> threat is very concerning - I keep looking over my shoulder to make sure
>> no one is sneaking up on me!
>
> My job here is done ...
>
> In my experience, most people don't take the steps necessary to really
> secure their systems.  But it's all a tradeoff.  If I'm running an online
> banking site, then I'm going to go all out to ensure that all the required
> steps are made to secure the system, otherwise I'm not going to stay in
> business very long.
>
> But if I'm selling ringtones over the internet, or running a site for flash
> games that makes money off banner ads, how diligent should I be?  I mean,
> if someone breaks in, how much do I lose?  I'm not storing anyone's credit
> card numbers, so I just have to deal with a couple days of downtime while
> I fix the server.  And chances are nobody is going to break into my system
> anyway, since I don't have anything worth stealing.
>
> Of course, the flaw in that reasoning is that while you may not care, the
> rest of the internet is getting bombed by the botnet that you've joined
> by your carelessness.
>
> The counter-argument to that is that you can't afford what it would cost
> to _really_ secure a system like that.  And it's not justified if the
> information isn't sensitive anyway.
>
> So, yes.  Keep looking over your shoulder.  _Someone_ is sneaking up on
> you.
>
> --
> Bill Moran
> http://www.potentialtech.com
> http://people.collaborativefusion.com/~wmoran/
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>

I would also try to patch your FreeBSD, bringing it up-to-date

-- 
http://alexus.org/





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