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The Next 50 Years of Computer Security
wbglinks writes "An informative interview with Linux guru Alan Cox, with an emphasis on Linux and security. Alan will be the keynote speaker at EuroOSCON this October." From the article: "It is beginning to improve, but at the moment computer security is rather basic and mostly reactive. Systems fail absolutely rather than degrade. We are still in a world where an attack like the slammer worm combined with a PC BIOS eraser or disk locking tool could wipe out half the PCs exposed to the internet in a few hours. In a sense we are fortunate that most attackers want to control and use systems they attack rather than destroy them."
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Professor Frink: Well, sure, the Frinkiac-7 looks impressive, don't touch it, but I predict that within 100 years, computers will be twice as powerful, 10,000 times larger, and so expensive that only the five richest kings of Europe will own them.
I'm a big tall mofo.
If I drank a strong tea brewed from Theo de Raadt's toenail clippings I could
get a really nasty fungus infection in your mouth!
"Yes, Mr Sarbanes Oxley Auditor, I exposed my entire desktop computing infrastructure to a group of self-proclaimed hackers so they could uninstall spyware for me. Great idea, huh? Huh? Hey! Come back! I haven't told you about the foxes guarding the corporate henhouse yet."
I have a better idea. Swap some other commodity (like, say, money) for the same service, and call it an MSSP.
Extrapolating recent trends, Pokemon will be President of the United Corporations of America. The United Middle East will be America's closest friend. Together, we will have obliterated the EU. No one will care about poverty and disease in Africa.
Computers will be so small, they'll be ingestable, with music players and cell phones being implanted in teeth. But DRM will be so pervasive that the RIAA will be allowed to inspect your mouth with toothpicks. The weakest link in computer security will still be the human being.
The REAL jabber has the user id: 13196
What you do today will cost you a day of your life
A worm which would spread fast like slammer and destroy infected machines after a short time is actually benevolent. It will destroy only machines that would otherwise be used as spam zombies. The day after the outbreak the internet would be clean again!
Patents Drive Free Software as Hurricanes Drive Construction Industry
Um, dude, about those gates. We had to remove them because they were interfereing with us getting in and out of the city to rape and pillage in our 20% of Rome. Oh, and by the way, we decided that we would rather rape and pillage in the 20% of Rome that contains the forums. Raping and pillaging in the slums wasn't working.
Yours truly,
The Visigoths.
We can assume no group even remotely competent enough to even get into this hypothetical security "protection" business in the first place would be stupid enough to let possibility one happen. This leaves possibility two. See the problem?
...where was I?
While I largely agree with your point, the quoted line made me think of this;
Man in black: [turning his back, and adding the poison to one of the goblets] Alright, where is the poison? The battle of wits has begun. It ends when you decide and we both drink - and find out who is right, and who is dead.
Vizzini: But it's so simple. All I have to do is divine it from what I know of you. Are you the sort of man who would put the poison into his own goblet or his enemies? Now, a clever man would put the poison into his own goblet because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he was given. I am not a great fool so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you...But you must have known I was not a great fool; you would have counted on it, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.
Man in black: You've made your decision then?
Vizzini: [happily] Not remotely! Because Iocaine comes from Australia. As everyone knows, Australia is entirely peopled with criminals. And criminals are used to having people not trust them, as you are not trusted by me. So, I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you.
Man in black: Truly, you have a dizzying intellect.
Vizzini: Wait 'till I get going!!
Man in black: Australia.
Vizzini: Yes! Australia! And you must have suspected I would have known the powder's origin,so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.
Man in black: You're just stalling now.
Vizzini: You'd like to think that, wouldn't you! You've beaten my giant, which means you're exceptionally strong...so you could have put the poison in your own goblet trusting on your strength to save you, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But, you've also bested my Spaniard, which means you must have studied...and in studying you must have learned that Man is mortal so you would have put the poison as far from yourself as possible, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me!
Man in black: You're trying to trick me into giving away something. It won't work.
Vizzini: It has worked! You've given everything away! I know where the poison is!
Man in black: Then make your choice.
Vizzini: I will, and I choose...[pointing behind the Man in black] What in the world can that be?
Man in black: [turning around, while Vizzini switches goblets] What?! Where?! I don't see anything.
Vizzini: Oh, well, I...I could have sworn I saw something. No matter. [Vizzini laughs]
Man in black: What's so funny?
Vizzini: I...I'll tell you in a minute. First, lets drink, me from my glass and you from yours. [They both drink]
Man in black: You guessed wrong.
Vizzini: You only think I guessed wrong! That's what's so funny! I switched glasses when your back was turned! Ha ha, you fool!! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders. The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia; and only slightly less well known is this: Never go in against a Sicilian, when death is on the line!
[Vizzini continues to laugh hysterically. Suddenly, he stops and falls right over. The Man in black removes the blindfold from the princess]
... but it would be pretty interesting days to live in for a time. Just imagine the circus! =)
;-)
Then again, it might just be good for us who run not Windows. I mean, most important servers and the like aren't running Windows anyway, and those who do are probably pretty well firewalled. So we'd have the internet all to ourselves - probably the only thing I'd notice for quite some time is a shorter "Online Buddies" list.
Now, if we had the games, imagine those ping times!
Spine World