Wi-Fi arrest highlights security dangers

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Wireless security is possible, but . . .

But, security is always a trade-off. Ease of use, availability of services, and "plug and play" are pretty much the antithesis of security.

Linux is becoming more secure every day. You can take that literally. There are more competant programmers working on Linux on a daily basis than there are "crackers". Odd as it sounds, there are people who enjoy reading source code and consider it a matter of pride (and even pleasure) to be able to submit a patch or fix. (In exchange for that work: they achieve membership to the pantheon of "Linux Gods"; A notation in "The Source"; A really good thing to add to their resume; Approbation and praise; They get bugged by those who are attempting to do the same-or-a "bummer" email from someone who didn't submit their patch quickly enough; and suggestions for more patches.)

Generally the more secure the network; the louder the screams (from the users).

That is why some of the distributions start from a default of insecure, rather than the other way around. The new users want familiar things working right out of the box--the problem there is that security is one more thing a user has to learn amongst many others. Frequently, it is something people will "get around to later".

The unfortunate thing is that the expectations of the user for ease of use and installation ("Plug and Pray") is directly at odds with any type of security. This is independent of the O.S..

Windows NT-based products can be made pretty secure--but it involves changes which result in "much wailing and gnashing of teeth". People will claim you have "ruined" windows--as many services and applications will be just plain gone. It also is rather time consuming and involves some major surgery to Explorer, IE, Outlook(Express), and Office products; setting up permissions, groups and users (Essentially creating the same kind of: owner/user/group/workgroup/indentity and authentication one is familiar with in Linux). I was curious and tried it--I got everything locked down solid as possible. The next set of "Critical Updates" completely hosed the system beyond repair. (I don't pretend to be a "guru", but if it isn't "patch-proof", to me it is a waste of time. I studied it, planned it out, invested the time in it--and got hosed.)

Attempting to lock everything down and provide sane policies for available services, passwords and authentication, immediately labels you BOFH.

"Plug and Pray" for wireless is just plain insane to me. People want it. There it is.

Posted by: Eqwatz   Posted on: 12/01/03 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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