On Wed, 23 Feb 2000 arkat_private wrote: > > > Viruses are a problem which can be `managed'. They're `damage' is also > > > > Only after the fact. > > *BEFORE*. Just don't run (well, you can call it "open", if you are > lose-dose user) shit from the net and you are safe. > Don't use .doc and .xls for external communications. Use rtf and > comma-separated format instead. It is a good idea anyways, just because > not everybody outside runs weendoze. In most companies, that's not an option. An amazing number of vendors send .xls spreadsheets and .doc files these days. Personally, I haven't acquired any viruses unintentionally in the last 10 years, and only one in the period prior to that (and it wasn't Internet-related, it was internally spread from a business partner in a software development shop in a company that didn't have any scanners or even a security policy.) Fortunately, I'm now at the point where I can choose my computing environment, *most* people are at the behest of company standards. > It's a good idea to eliminate that nasty thingies inside the company too. > Switching to less dangerous formats and more reasonable groupware and > document handling system will help you not only with security. If you know people in ~30 person non-technology companies who can even enumerate "less dangerous formats", let alone get their *customers* to switch, you know a lot more bright people than I at that level. > If you are, after all, forced to get those things from outside, set up > a quarantine system and perform checks (or even format conversion) on it. > Use server-based virus scanners on your LAN. Again, virus scanners are an after-the-fact mechanism. Especially because someone has to get the virus prior to someone generating a signature. > I see the PC viruses from they day they were invented. And my opinion > did not change for more that 10 years: only natural born idiot can get You underestimate the total number of natural born idiots in the world obviously ;) > damaged by a virus. If you run files you recieve by email, you are one > of those. If your users are, you should punish them for that, throw them > out or shoot them, just like you will do with someone who damages your > hardware on regular basis. If we could shoot lusers, we probably wouldn't have jobs since there'd be nobody to protect anymore. Paul ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Paul D. Robertson "My statements in this message are personal opinions probertsat_private which may have no basis whatsoever in fact." PSB#9280
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Apr 13 2001 - 14:07:54 PDT