[ On Thursday, January 13, 2005 at 16:45:03 (+0100), Jan-Peter Koopmann wrote: ]
> Subject: RE: [exim] Securing Email for the prying eyes of any government
>
> Hi David,
>
> > The underlying problem is that people are emailing around
> > executable code to begin with. There's almost no legitimate
> > reason for it.
>
> Ease of use for many people.
That's a B.S. argument, pure and simple.
There is no legitimate reason for sending executable code between
systems, especially between end users. Never, Ever.
Your "ease-of-use" crutch is because those who lean on it have chosen
inappropriate technology.
There are many, easy to use, alternatives that provide the same
functionality and meet the same needs, and which may even be more
powerful than the tools which might cause someone to think they need to
move executable code between machines.
Until you, and Microsoft and other big corporate software vendors,
understand this very simple idea, there will be viruses and worms
running rampant in M$ client systems.
I don't expect Microsoft, as a corporation, to ever "Get it" (since
doing so would not be good for their shareholders), but you as an
intelligent individual should be able to figure this stuff out.
PLEASE do READ Schneier's "Secrets & Lies" book. He does a very good
job of explaining this issue and all the surrounding issues. Much
better than I could do, especially in any e-mail forum.
> Back to reality: There is no system I am aware of that prohibits all
> kinds of viruses under all conditions.
Indeed -- no system alone can be secure, especially not when it's
connected in any way to a public network. Security requires a good
security policy, and external controls as well.
--
Greg A. Woods
H:+1 416 218-0098 W:+1 416 489-5852 x122 VE3TCP RoboHack <woods@???>
Planix, Inc. <woods@???> Secrets of the Weird <woods@???>
