Is Obsolescence Good Computer Security?

caesar-auf-nihil asks: "I was recently considering a switch from dial-up to something faster (either cable or DSL) but my friend recommended against it since he said I was more secure staying with Dial-Up. His argument was that my connection's slowness and 'not always on' connection gave me better security since I was less of a target for many security threats. Now, I have never gotten infected, nor do I believe my machine is infested with spyware and/or controlling programs as it runs fine, but I wonder if the obsolescence argument is really good or not. Does Dial-Up really protect you or is this a false sense of security and I should just go ahead and pick a faster service and make sure my firewall is a good one and my virus definitions are always up to date?"

Comments

Wha?

[jfroot]

Let me get this straight; you read Slashdot, but are still on dial-up? That's unpossible.

Re:Broadband Plus OS X

[Anonymous Coward]

It certainly is more inherently secure than Windows. Don't you realize that there has never been a macro virus for anything other than a Microsoft product, because Microsoft BUILT THAT FUNCTIONALITY INTO THEIR PRODUCTS? Don't you realize that there has never been an email worm for anything other than a Microsoft product, because Microsoft BUILT THAT FUNCTIONALITY INTO THEIR PRODUCTS? Don't you realize there has never been an ActiveX exploit for any browser other than a Microsoft product, because Microsoft BUILT THAT FUNCTIONALITY INTO THEIR PRODUCTS? This goes on and on.

Mac OS X is much, must more inherently secure than Windows. A sandboxed userland, requiring a password to alter the contents of system folders, requiring a password to install software & updates, and a sane approach to application design (as opposed to Microsoft's "let's make every application a programming environment") goes a long, long way to providing a more "inherently secure" operating system.

Re:Dial-up does not make you more secure

[caluml]

That way if your Gentoo machine falls over

Erm, what the fuck? If you know how to run a Linux box, you know how to run a Linux box. Used up all my mod points yesterday...

Re:Not true

[Janek Kozicki]

being /.ter means you're ugly, so you are not risking rape either. It's a win-win.

err, wait, ... rape, um, mmh