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Border Security System Left Open

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the on-a-need-to-patch-basis dept.

7x7 writes "Wired News is running an article on documents they recovered via the Freedom of Information Act and a lawsuit. From the article:" A computer failure that hobbled border-screening systems at airports across the country last August occurred after Homeland Security officials deliberately held back a security patch that would have protected the sensitive computers from a virus then sweeping the internet, according to documents obtained by Wired News." It looks like Zotob made it in to the supposedly protected network."

2 of 195 comments (clear)

  1. Great argument as to why *nix is no more secure by edbarbar · · Score: 0, Troll

    We hear a lot about how open source systems are more secure because security bugs are exposed. But in this case, the system failed precisely because the security bug was exposed, even though there was already a fix.

    Meanwhile, it was less than a week after the uSoft announcement of the fix that the worm was created, so the problem happened precisely because of exposure.

    So let's say, bug is found (in this case by the good guys), code is written, tested, release created, then there is the window during which the millions of users need to apply the new image. In the closed source case of this bug, the hackers only got a chance to violate security after there was already a release image. In the open source world, they get access to the bug much earlier, presumably shortly after it is found or latest after code is written.

    --
    Ed Barbar, President and General Manager, Furnit USA
  2. Re:Government Insecurity... by msuarezalvarez · · Score: 0, Troll
    As much as I like Microsoft as a regular user...

    It is when I am in my "regular user" mode that I displike Windows the most.