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Air Force Warns Microsoft/Others to Tighten Security
FattyBoeBatty wrote to us with a story
from USA Today about the the Air Force and security concerns. The Microsoft point is the primary point of the article, but the AF CIO has also made the point at industry forums, and evidently with Cisco. Specific companies aside, I think it's a good thing that organizations are beignning to realize the exposure they have on security issues - and maybe will actually start to take steps to close them.
Why do they stick with MS if they have security issues?
Why hasn't anyone asked this question?
We run Exchange Server, and we get hit by an Exchange Server virii
Quick solution: Don't use exchange server.
Why sit and wait for MS to comply?
It just seems odd to me.
Note: I'm not saying "Y d0nt j00 B 1337 4nd us3 L1NU><?" I'm just asking why stick with MS.
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
I'm not trying to say M$ is inoccent, I just want to point out that no matter how secure the OS is, users need to be educated in computer security, or it's all going to go to shit anwyay. My $0.02 (cha-ching)
I totaly disbelieve this article.
We are whole heartedly all out sold out to Microsoft.
We (actually, the US military) have recently implimented a MS only messaging solution using Exchange and Outlook called DMS. The solution took well over 6 years to develop secure email (snicker), and still doesn't work right. Even though there is freeware that could have been implimented that we would be able to see the source code for - the PHB lemmings of the AF chose, instead, to go with a MS solution.
We also recently moved to a multi-thousand GAL (global Address list) - the microsoft proprietary solution which has opened us up for years to things like Mellissa and I LOVE YOU and all of that other crap that used MS features to spread itself like wildfire.
Every base has MS license agreemets for support - and by those agreements - like the rest of the world - are either going to continue paying $.50 a hit for our fix each year, or pay $100 each time we buy another computer.
As a young Lt., I spent 6 months replaceing perfectly functional Solaris boxes that performed our web, smtp, DNS, SQL, and other basic network services with NT 4.0 boxes. A week after we recovered from Service Pack 2 - i strongly recommended that we slow our migration - and that it was costing us more time and money supporting Windows machines than the UNIX boxes which never needed any work or upkeep. Some had uptimes of 4 years until I pulled the plugs on them. (don't beat me - i was the lowest ranking puke in the house - and i did what i was told)
After the first virus attack - I stood up in a meeting and demanded to know why the room wanted to spend all its time figureing out how to rip out the functionalities of the Windows boxes that made us vulnerable and didn't look at solutions which were inherently not vulnerable - and was flabbergasted. It was like I was in a room full of guys from Boston and had said that the Bruins sucked. They all became instant apologists for MS and their shit software... how it wasn't that hard to fix the problem and that we had virus software, yada yada yada..
Meanwhile - my home Mac OS 8 server was chugging along just fine, even though I had gotten the viruses from lots of people at work. But it easily could have been a FreeBSD or Linux box too.
This is a lot of huffing a puffing. Its a farce. It is because there is no one with the nads to make a descision against what everyone knows - that MS 0wn2 J00, stupid Air Force.
guns kill people like spoons make Rosie O'Donnell fat.
I was just thinking back on why this might be a problem for the military in general. Havng had some experience as an admin in the Army, amoungst some other experiences, I feel comfortable with the asertion that from the perspective of a software user, the millitary is no different than any major corporate entity. While they do have hardware and software than most corporations do not have, the same can be said for GM, Sabre, and Citicorp. Yet for most day to day operational stuff, admins, supply people, and more and more mechanics are using off the shelf software to support their job. Part of this is cost savings. Even at inflated dod prices, it costs them less to purchase Office than it does to write their own office suite. For situations that do not require hardened computers, it is cheaper to buy off the shelf than to custom order. That doesn't mean that these systems require any less security than corporate systems do, or even that they need more security, though that is arguable. However the implications of a hacked PC that manages where soldiers are going to be stationed, or what parts are in inventory, or what grade screw belongs on that part of the engine, are a bit different for computers in the military than they are for a corporate office. Likewise for whether that order makes it to the server in a timely manner. For a buisness, it means money. For the Military it also means money, but it can also mean lives, or battles. -Rusty
You never know...