Hi, long time listener, first time caller and all that.
I think the question (ultimately) may come down to where the finger gets pointed. I saw a post reference to certifications for programmers, which KIND of goes to my point. Then, I read the post on gun companies getting sued for the actions of their customers. Getting closer. THEN, I read the post by "The Eric Conspiracy" about Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers, etc, and what they are liable for. This is what I was thinking.
In a corporate networked environment (I am narrowing it down here, I know, but bear with me), who IMPLEMENTS buggy software? How about the Sysadmin? Maybe not his or her IDEA, but they actually implement it. It ain't Joe Blow at his workstation who uses it. You are the one that put it out there for him.
"Hey, our software was tested at M$ (or wherever) and found to run ok. What's YOUR problem?" If it hoses your network, or you get rooted, or whatever, it happened on YOUR system! Your firewall, your OS mix, your internal and external apps.
I know this sounds far fetched, but look at Enron. They played fast and free with almost everything they did, and Arthur Anderson went along with it. Now, since AA got convicted, the Enron stockholders are going after THEM instead of Enron. Responsibility was neatly deflected from one to the other because it was EASY to.
If you implement software onto your network, my guess is that EVERYONE that had ANYTHING to do with making it will be pointing to you as the (ahem) "root" of the problem. After all, it happened on your watch. And, odds are, YOU have some certifications! Tsk, tsk, you should have KNOWN better!
Paranoid? Probably. Hopefully, anyway. But look at everything that has happened from day one on this planet. When something either goes wrong finally, or has gone wrong for long enough that people complain, the finger of blame always swings over to the easiest target.
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Hi, long time listener, first time caller and all that.
I think the question (ultimately) may come down to where the finger gets pointed. I saw a post reference to certifications for programmers, which KIND of goes to my point. Then, I read the post on gun companies getting sued for the actions of their customers. Getting closer. THEN, I read the post by "The Eric Conspiracy" about Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers, etc, and what they are liable for. This is what I was thinking.
In a corporate networked environment (I am narrowing it down here, I know, but bear with me), who IMPLEMENTS buggy software? How about the Sysadmin? Maybe not his or her IDEA, but they actually implement it. It ain't Joe Blow at his workstation who uses it. You are the one that put it out there for him.
"Hey, our software was tested at M$ (or wherever) and found to run ok. What's YOUR problem?" If it hoses your network, or you get rooted, or whatever, it happened on YOUR system! Your firewall, your OS mix, your internal and external apps.
I know this sounds far fetched, but look at Enron. They played fast and free with almost everything they did, and Arthur Anderson went along with it. Now, since AA got convicted, the Enron stockholders are going after THEM instead of Enron. Responsibility was neatly deflected from one to the other because it was EASY to.
If you implement software onto your network, my guess is that EVERYONE that had ANYTHING to do with making it will be pointing to you as the (ahem) "root" of the problem. After all, it happened on your watch. And, odds are, YOU have some certifications! Tsk, tsk, you should have KNOWN better!
Paranoid? Probably. Hopefully, anyway. But look at everything that has happened from day one on this planet. When something either goes wrong finally, or has gone wrong for long enough that people complain, the finger of blame always swings over to the easiest target.