Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2001 22:06:49 -0800 From: "Ted Mittelstaedt" <tedm@toybox.placo.com> To: "Mike Meyer" <mwm@mired.org> Cc: <questions@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: RE: FreeBSD Firewall vs. Black Ice Message-ID: <000c01c0a603$a19b5c00$1401a8c0@tedm.placo.com> In-Reply-To: <15011.60781.223096.927@guru.mired.org>
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>-----Original Message----- >From: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG >[mailto:owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG]On Behalf Of Mike Meyer > >Their publicly stated reason is that it's a matter of customer >convenience. In other words, they believe that people want it that >way. > Nobody believes this, as you know. Therefore, their public reason is a lie. They aren't totally stupid, they know this is a lie, yet still they say it. This is just more evidence that they are playing some other game here. > >The first question is then - does anti-virus software actually do a >better job than disabling scripting in MS Office applications? The Yes, it does. Also, there are other viruses that aren't scripts that can be transmitted by e-mail and the software catches these too. >second one is that, if this technic is so effective, when do the email >viruses effect millions or 10s of millions of people whenever they >show up? > Because most people are completely bullheaded and still don't run AntiVirus even though they have been yackked at by their betters to do it from time immemorial. The typical computer user with $50 burning a hole in their pocket will go to the store and buy the latest game before they buy AV software. But, if there was no punishment at all, then instead of most computer users not running AV, then virtually ALL wouldn't. There's enough that get the hint right now and don't know any better to keep the antivirus companies in business. If you took away the script hole, the AV companies would go broke. >The way things are being done now makes it an arms race, which is Exactly, you have grasped the concept perfectly! It worked for years and years with the American defense contractors, that was what the Cold War was all about. Now that we have access to historical data we can go into the history of the USSR and see that during the 60's when the US defence contractors were taking the US Government to the cleaners, the Soviet defense contractors were doing exactly the same thing to the Politburo! That's all the entire AntiVirus industry is, you know. >*not* the place you want to be when you're the only one taking >damage. Shutting off the scripting tools by default would pretty much >kill the self-spreading email viruses, thus taking away the most >potent weapon the virus writers have. But it would also ruin an entire industry that's based on fear, and there's millions of dollars of sales at stake here. > Not shutting them off >offensively stupid. > No, it's the patriotic thing to do! Up with Capitalism!!! Up with profits made on the sale of software desinged to correct an artifically-created and artifically-maintained flaw! Shut UP boy, there's money to be made there!!! :-) Seriously, from my point of view, the AntiVirus industry is like 90% slime, but there's still 10% of it that's good. Shutting down the script hole would not destroy every single virus out there, nor would it kill the transmission medium. I deplore the way that the industry has set itself up to basically live off of fear, but at the same time, I wouldn't want that 10% of it that's good to be lost, and I can't figure out how to slice off that 90% of slime from the antivirus industry yet preserve the 10%. Ted Mittelstaedt tedm@toybox.placo.com Author of: The FreeBSD Corporate Networker's Guide Book website: http://www.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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