From: Jeffrey Fabijanic (jeff@primordialsoft.com)
Date: Mon Aug 03 1998 - 07:31:58 MDT
Eugene Leitl writes:
>The only way to be more or less immune is to run Linux, read
>Bugtraq digest daily and apply kernel patches on a daily/weekly
>basis.
I agree mostly although I'll say that we do all these things, yet even the
Linux boxes on our network have fallen prey to crackers a couple times.
About the "safest" desktop hosts on our net, in the sense that they are
targeted least, are most resistant to damage, and offer the most secure
anti-viral tools, are (perhaps ironically) the Macs. Of course, none of the
PPC boxes are running *just* MacOS now (they've all got Linux, BeOS, and
various advanced flavors of MacOS on them as well), and we're divided as to
whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, exposure wise, as one can
argue that a multi-OS capable piece of hw has *all* the security failings
of each of its OSes, or conversely that, unlike a single-OS box, since it
exists as a particular OS host for a discontinuous fraction of the time, it
is less attractive and harder to "hit".
Of course, the only computers we've got that have *never* had a successful
viral or trojan-horse attack are the NewtonOS devices, which is a little
ironic, considering that the openness of their systems is second only to
the Linux boxes. We've even taken part in a couple developer-based projects
to suss out their security holes and how they might be exploited. Guess
there's a real advantage in having a different "digital genome" than the
typical host.
- Jeff
| Jeffrey Fabijanic, Designer The Future exists,
| Primordial Software first in Imagination,
| "Software of the First Order" then in Will,
| Boston, MA * (617) 983-1369 and finally in Reality.
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