[plug] UNIX - RISKS

[Christian]

On Mon, 22 Feb 1999, HILL  Walter wrote:

> I had to way up the inconvenience of the size plus the possibility of
> telling people to suck eggs vs possible risks of attaching your LINUX
> host to a public network data network.

These risks are as old as networks themselves and are self-evident (or
should be) to anyone involved in connecting a Unix machine to a network.

What reaction should we have to this sort of message?  "Ok everyone, shut
down all our Unix machines, unplug them from all the networks."  This is
more effective than a denial of service attack!

There are inherent risks in connecting any computer to any network - if
you want your computer to be safe, lock it away somewhere and never switch
it on.  But if you want your computer to be useful then assess the risks,
connect it to a network if required, secure it as much as you can, remove
any services you don't require and monitor it continually.

Regards,

Christian. 

============================================================================
"Those who do not understand Unix are condemned to reinvent it, poorly."
                					-- Henry Spencer