From: Spudboy100@aol.com
Date: Sun Jul 07 2002 - 11:32:34 MDT
Harvey Newstrom, CISSP, observed:
<<First of all, security by obscurity doesn't work. I know that microsoft
argues that open source software is dangerous and that only proprietary
secrets can be safe.>>
The kind of security that I am focusing on is less that of computer security,
then physical security by military and non-military means, combined.
<<In summary, as a security professional, I view "openess" and "niceness"
as requirements for any security system, not impediments to them. This
is not just my personal viewpoint, but seem born out by studies,
standards, and industry organizations that try to develop security
architectures and operational procedures.>>
My view is you are correct as long as you recognize the limits to this
philosophy.
For example, openess didn't seem to help last thursday. This is especially
true when my fellow Americans have real emotional blinders recognizing
definitive reality.
"Niceness" may prove too nice to defend ourselves against determined enemies:
Here is a quote to the preamble by one of Osama Bin Laden's related agencies:
"
Text of Fatwah Urging Jihad Against Americans
Published in Al-Quds al-'Arabi on Febuary 23, 1998 Statement signed by Sheikh
Usamah Bin-Muhammad Bin-Ladin; Ayman al-Zawahiri, leader of the Jihad Group
in Egypt; Abu- Yasir Rifa'i Ahmad Taha, a leader of the Islamic Group; Sheikh
Mir Hamzah, secretary of the Jamiat-ul-Ulema-e-Pakistan; and Fazlul Rahman,
leader of the Jihad Movement in Bangladesh Praise be to God, who revealed the
Book, controls the clouds, defeats factionalism, and says in His Book "But
when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the pagans wherever
ye find them....
...The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies--civilians and
military--is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country
in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque and
the holy mosque from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of
all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim. This is
in accordance with the words of Almighty God, "and fight the pagans all
together as they fight you all together," and "fight them until there is no
more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in God..."
Finally, please read this July 2nd, 2002 article on Professor Gale at the
University of Pennsylvania, regarding security and perceptions. Philadelphia
Inquirer Article:
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/living/people/3585015.htm
Prophet of Doom
"In 1998, University of Pennsylvania political science professor Stephen Gale
went to Washington with a warning.He told Federal Aviation Administration
security officials that terrorists might seize airplanes and fly them into
some of the nation's most prized landmarks. Two he mentioned: the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon.No one listened, he said. An FAA security official
told him that scenario fell into the category of threats the government is
powerless to stop - like meteorites"
and..
"An attack on buildings where the nation's electrical grid is balanced, for
example, would disrupt health care systems, shut down computer networks, and
disable fuel pumps, all part of the "essence of modern life." It would
create, he said, the "endgame" in which "we're done.""There ain't no nation
no more," he said. "We'll splinter into a whole bunch of regional segments
that are just going to figure out how to survive. That's it.
If Gale is right and not merely, bombastic in his analysis, then the USA is
vulnerable, if for no other reason then it is underestimating its
vulnerabilities.
-Mitch
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