RE: Programmer Authorities

[Vern Hamberg <hambergv@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 09:13 AM 9/16/97 EDT, you wrote:
>
>If you dont trust your programmers and give them some sense of  your 
>confidence
>in them,  they will soon be working for your competitors.

Right, but no amount of confidence can prevent accidents. Most problems
with security come from accidental deletion of objects, etc., not from
malicious hacking. It is critical, IMO, to forestall the idea that
enforcing security is about restrictions or punishment. Being security
officer or (in Unix terms) superuser is not about power or playing God.
It's about managing the system(s) so that everyone--repeat, everyone--can
best get their work done. Excess authority does not get more work done, it
just leaves open the possibility of accidental and (rarely) malicious damage.

I've been there--I like having the power--and I have to resist the impulse
to wield it unfairly when I have it, as I do now. I find it useful to
remind myself that the reason I have any privileges is that I've been asked
to do certain jobs that require these privileges, and I guess I've shown
myself worthy of trust in these things. I've __still__ brought every
machine to its knees by carelessness, but I'm learning, too.

We've been through a painful transition from absolutely no security, to all
intents and purposes, to a moderately secure environment. We're coming out
on the other side and are still alive. When things happen, we always assume
no malice was involved.

Security does not mean paranoia!!

Of course, just because you're paranaoid doesn't mean they're not really
after you! :->

Vernon Hamberg
Systems Software Programmer
Old Republic National Title Insurance Company
400 Second Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55401
(612) 371-1111 x480
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