Re: Internet Security (was Re: frame question)

Booth,

In a message dated 97-11-15 09:38:56 EST, you write:

> > Given that this
> > talented individual would have everything they needed from a resource
> > standpoint, and nothing else to work on, how long do you think that it
> > would take them to compromise "the target"?
>  
>  Here, in my mind, is the whole essense of internet security.  Of course
>  this scenario could be played out, and undoubtedly has been, over and
>  over.  The presence of an Internet isn't required at all.  The target can
>  be the regular daily business as it is right now.  Whetther the attack is
>  by data wire, or machine guns in a Bank's lobby, or a bazooka on an
>  armoured truck, the issues are still the same.  Security is a big business
>  and the internet is just one more business opportunity for the security
>  people, but we should not avoid the internet anymore than we avoid using
>  telephones, faxes, or ATM machines.

Ahhh, but that's my point.  The target _CANNOT_ be the regular daily business
as it is right now.  Your "machine guns" and "bazooka's" require personal
involvement and presence "on-site".  Most companies now use leased lines or
secure dial-up, as opposed to having an open line to the public domain at all
times -- so I disagree that "the presense of the Internet isn't required at
all".  Despite the fact that my phone and fax machines are again "in the
public domain" due to the fact that their numbers are published, neither can
do me monetary harm unless someone manages to "hack" my phone switch and make
long distance calls to Timbuctu on "my nickle".  My clients' dial-in lines
are not listed, and most utilize "call back" modems (wherein the modem
acknowledges your identity and hangs up to call a pre-determined number for
your identity).  My ATM is not on the Internet, but on the private networks
of which I spoke earlier.

Again, I _do not_ advocate that the Internet _not_ be exploited by business.
 I merely warn those new to the technology that it is _NOTHING_ like what you
deal with in your "everyday business lives" today from a security standpoint.
 I also think that many businesses have been far too quick to "hop on the
Internet bandwagon".  As my wife commented this evening during the mandatory
"see us at www.show.com" at the end of a television show, "Is there anyone
out there that _DOESN'T_ have a web page?".  "Us" was all I could answer...

Regards,

Dean Asmussen
Enterprise Systems Consulting, Inc.
Fuquay-Varina, NC  USA
E-Mail:  DAsmussen@aol.com

"Income tax returns are the most imaginative fiction being written today." --
Herman Wouk
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