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Technology Stocks : All About Sun Microsystems -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Richard J. Haynal who wrote (31648)	5/7/2000 7:24:00 PM
From: JC Jaros	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 64865

It's not a service to show people how vulnerable they are!* --- Really? You would seriously turn down a free security audit? Is this a Unix network? -JCJ

To: Richard J. Haynal who wrote (31648)	5/7/2000 8:05:00 PM
From: QwikSand	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 64865

I don't entirely disagree with you, because of course we can't make a habit out of rewarding criminals and these kids are somewhere on the scale that starts with mischief and ends with criminality. Point being it really is NOT ok to show us how vulnerable we are. Anyone in network security already realizes this and that their job is really "risk management". This is simply wrong. Your analogy isn't analogous. Yes we know how easily our lives can end. You don't have to be a police officer to know that. But there's nobody working network security in my house, or even in my small business, so there's nobody who "already knows" how vulnerable we are. All I did was pay Microsoft $500 for some office software. It didn't say anything about not clicking on attachments. Who knew? Who was supposed to know? In fact, the point I was trying to make is that even the people in network security don't really know how vulnerable we are, because some of the ways in which we're vulnerable haven't even been discovered yet. (The Love Bug is a good example. It was an obvious gigantic hole, but everybody chose to ignore it. Where were all the knowing network security guys?) It's much better when one is discovered by a kid who sends out a Love You worm that throws the problem in the world's face with minimal harm, then when it's discovered by a genuine criminal or spy who uses it to steal or corrupt financial information or to endanger national security. Don't pretend we know. We don't know. That's the point. And when someone fills us in a little, we owe that person some gratitude even as we punish their misdemeanors to maintain the integrity of the rule of law. In this case, some little kid made fools out of the world by finally driving a truck through one of the BIG holes. It's a tossup whether punishing him is an act of justice or an act of rage. I hope kids also show us the subtle holes, so they don't remain known only to bad guys. Regards, --QS