You've hit on one of the problems, both in government and the corporate world. What is the mission of the organization? It isn't to run a secure computing and network infrastructure. How do you convince upper-level management that they should allocate funding for security, as opposed to spending that money on something else that has a more obvious relationship to the mission of the organization.
Many departments are run on a shoe-string basis. While the agency, as a whole, may have received a budget increase. That may mean that 20% of the agency saw a major increase in funding, 40% saw their funding stay the same, and 40% saw a 10% cut in their budget, again. Year after year of budget cuts can be very corrosive. You lose all of your support people and the survivors get new tasks that they may not have the time or skills to do properly. The infrastructure becomes a collection of obsolete equipment held together with bubble gum and bailing wire.
At one office that I worked in, we made regular trips to the agency's excess equipment warehouse to scrounge for parts that we used to build "new" (newer) computers. That was the only way that we could obtain computing hardware. There was no money in the budget for PCs, even though we were a software development group. We provided our own hardware and software support, by necessity.
AFAICT the F-111 turned out to be a nice plane, but keeping it and the hornets up-to-date could have been MUCH cheaper if the USA weren't arseholes about it all.
How is it the USA's fault that Australia didn't negotiate for it in the first place? Did you expect it to be free?
If I sell you an airplane, part of what determines the price is the expected future income from parts and upgrades. That lowers the initial cost of the aircraft to the buyer. The aircraft industry isn't a charity. Besides security concerns, you can't expect them to give away that future income stream. If you want it, pay for it.
I've programmed a few computers that used patch cords and removable plug boards. They used discrete transistor logic, not vacuum tubes.
How many people around here ever used a Tektronix storage tube graphics terminal? They used vector graphics and a weird display tube that didn't need to be refreshed by the electron beam. The hardware is long gone but you can still see plentiful references to the Tektronix 4000 series terminals in the UNIX documentation.
We were so poor that we couldn't afford a frame buffer. Only mainframe computers had a megabyte of memory. We programmed our computer's boot ROM by clipping diodes off a printed circuit board with a pair of diagonal cutters. And we liked it!
In every case that I've seen, a company that has a unionized workforce has only itself to blame. Corporate greed and stupidity did not vanish with the 19th Century.
A manager has to make his numbers, and if a few of the little people get squashed in the process, so be it. Besides, it can be entertaining to fsck with people who can't fight back.
No. Agricultural practices in many Asian countries make them a breeding ground for new strains of influenza. If it makes you feel better, call it the Pottsylvania Flu. They won't complain.
One shot to the head might not kill you, but it is going to seriously fsck you up. That bullet is designed to penetrate 3.5 mm of steel plate at 570 meters.
The ballot box fell off the back of a truck. The driver got lost. The courthouse burned down after the votes were counted. The polling place was moved without notice. Not enough blank ballots were delivered. The list goes on and on...
I don't give a damn about it. Keep that crap off my Mac. If I have to run a Windows program, which isn't that often, I have a separate computer. For games, there are game consoles.
Here, hold on to these wires, one in each hand. Our department is doing a study of the feasibility of replacing the dump resistors in our high-voltage capacitor banks with IT nazis.
Unapproved software? What makes you think you have a clue as to what software a scientist or engineer needs to do their job?
My Uncle used to use explosives on his farm. He had to show his state blaster's license to buy explosives, and this was well before Oklahoma City and the WTC bombing. I'm not familiar with the laws in every state, but most require a state license. Then there are a bunch of rules governing the transport and storage of explosives.
Most of them are busy in the Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Chechnya and other hot spots.
Blowing up a building is relatively easy. Getting ahold of the required explosives is much more difficult in the USA. In a place like Iraq, it is much easier to scrounge old munitions and to extract the explosives for reuse.
The terrorists are not stupid. They select targets with a desired effect in mind, not to just blow shit up.
There was a scandal in my area, about twelve years ago, where several car dealers and a large number of car salesmen got into trouble for outfitting the area's drug dealers with very expensive cars on a cash basis. They were charged with money laundering and failing to report large cash transactions. I don't know why they didn't just lease the cars, that wouldn't be as obvious as walking into a dealership with a big bag of cash.
This is one of the reasons that I hate (some) lawyers. I used to work for a major corporation that crippled their email system on the advice of their lawyers, who were paranoid about discovery. They configured the email system (Exchange) to delete anything older than 30 days. While it may have made the lawyers happy, it made life miserable for the people who actually did the work.
The purpose of an email system is to help employees do their work, not to make life easier for systems administrators or lawyers.
So instead of bitching about NASA draining on economy and tax money, what about donations? Can't NASA just ask for public funding through donations from multi-billion corporations? I'm sure 40 million can be used as tax write off for them.
No. Every dollar spent by NASA must be first appropriated by Congress. If NASA sells some old hardware, or receives a donation, that money goes straight to the federal government's general fund, not to NASA.
I do, and I tell all my friends and aquaintances about the crappy service I received from Conglomo.
Don't underestimate the effect of a pissed-off customer. I'll never buy anything from GEICO due to the shabby and dishonest way they treated my Mother after she was injured in an automobile accident.
I dumped my bank of 15+ years after they screwed up my accounts.
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Maybe I don't have a local library.
Many people do not have access to a "free public library", especially in the areas that are poorly served by the telephone and cable companies.
You've hit on one of the problems, both in government and the corporate world. What is the mission of the organization? It isn't to run a secure computing and network infrastructure. How do you convince upper-level management that they should allocate funding for security, as opposed to spending that money on something else that has a more obvious relationship to the mission of the organization.
At one office that I worked in, we made regular trips to the agency's excess equipment warehouse to scrounge for parts that we used to build "new" (newer) computers. That was the only way that we could obtain computing hardware. There was no money in the budget for PCs, even though we were a software development group. We provided our own hardware and software support, by necessity.
Don't bogart that joint, my friend.
How is it the USA's fault that Australia didn't negotiate for it in the first place? Did you expect it to be free?
If I sell you an airplane, part of what determines the price is the expected future income from parts and upgrades. That lowers the initial cost of the aircraft to the buyer. The aircraft industry isn't a charity. Besides security concerns, you can't expect them to give away that future income stream. If you want it, pay for it.
I've programmed a few computers that used patch cords and removable plug boards. They used discrete transistor logic, not vacuum tubes.
How many people around here ever used a Tektronix storage tube graphics terminal? They used vector graphics and a weird display tube that didn't need to be refreshed by the electron beam. The hardware is long gone but you can still see plentiful references to the Tektronix 4000 series terminals in the UNIX documentation.
We were so poor that we couldn't afford a frame buffer. Only mainframe computers had a megabyte of memory. We programmed our computer's boot ROM by clipping diodes off a printed circuit board with a pair of diagonal cutters. And we liked it!
I've seen them use special crowbars and battering rams, but never a shotgun.
A manager has to make his numbers, and if a few of the little people get squashed in the process, so be it. Besides, it can be entertaining to fsck with people who can't fight back.
No. Agricultural practices in many Asian countries make them a breeding ground for new strains of influenza. If it makes you feel better, call it the Pottsylvania Flu. They won't complain.
One shot to the head might not kill you, but it is going to seriously fsck you up. That bullet is designed to penetrate 3.5 mm of steel plate at 570 meters.
I think you need a refresher course on the meaning of "real life". Real life is not what some actor does in a movie or television show.
The ballot box fell off the back of a truck. The driver got lost. The courthouse burned down after the votes were counted. The polling place was moved without notice. Not enough blank ballots were delivered. The list goes on and on...
Each county set their own rules. Some used punch cards. Some used old-style lever machines. Pick your poison.
I don't give a damn about it. Keep that crap off my Mac. If I have to run a Windows program, which isn't that often, I have a separate computer. For games, there are game consoles.
Unapproved software? What makes you think you have a clue as to what software a scientist or engineer needs to do their job?
Some of us are in no hurry to meet our maker. You have to be very desperate to make and use that stuff.
My Uncle used to use explosives on his farm. He had to show his state blaster's license to buy explosives, and this was well before Oklahoma City and the WTC bombing. I'm not familiar with the laws in every state, but most require a state license. Then there are a bunch of rules governing the transport and storage of explosives.
Blowing up a building is relatively easy. Getting ahold of the required explosives is much more difficult in the USA. In a place like Iraq, it is much easier to scrounge old munitions and to extract the explosives for reuse.
The terrorists are not stupid. They select targets with a desired effect in mind, not to just blow shit up.
Don't confuse the lead catchers with real soldiers. :-)
There was a scandal in my area, about twelve years ago, where several car dealers and a large number of car salesmen got into trouble for outfitting the area's drug dealers with very expensive cars on a cash basis. They were charged with money laundering and failing to report large cash transactions. I don't know why they didn't just lease the cars, that wouldn't be as obvious as walking into a dealership with a big bag of cash.
The purpose of an email system is to help employees do their work, not to make life easier for systems administrators or lawyers.
The denial-of-service attack will not work if the attacker uses forged source addresses, as is common with TCP.
No. Every dollar spent by NASA must be first appropriated by Congress. If NASA sells some old hardware, or receives a donation, that money goes straight to the federal government's general fund, not to NASA.
Don't underestimate the effect of a pissed-off customer. I'll never buy anything from GEICO due to the shabby and dishonest way they treated my Mother after she was injured in an automobile accident.
I dumped my bank of 15+ years after they screwed up my accounts.