[Info-vax] "Shanghai Stock Exchange" and OpenVMS

[Richard B. Gilbert]

John Smith (not the one @ HP) wrote:
> "Richard B. Gilbert" <rgilbert88 at comcast.net> wrote in message 
> news:Uc2dnVQRLaLE_-XUnZ2dnUVZ_hudnZ2d at giganews.com...
>> johnwallace4 at yahoo.co.uk wrote:
>>> On Jan 22, 2:38 am, "Richard B. Gilbert" <rgilber... at comcast.net>
>>> wrote:
>>>> koeh... at spock.koehler.athome.net wrote:
>>>>> In article <6thdpsFb03n... at mid.individual.net>, billg... at cs.uofs.edu 
>>>>> (Bill Gunshannon) writes:
>>>>>> How many tmes you going to trot out this same tired story.  Getting 
>>>>>> hit with
>>>>>> a virus is not as much a OS or system problem as it is a user problem.
>>>>>    Which is why we get hit with virii on VMS every day?
>>>>>    Seriously, heavily trained Windows admins have not been able to 
>>>>> protect
>>>>>    our Windows systems.  Not if they're plugged in and turned on.
>>>> You can safely plug them in and turn them on.  It's when you connect
>>>> them to a network that you have to worry about "electronic organisms"
>>>> infecting your Windows systems.
>>> "It's when you connect them to a network that you have to worry"
>>>
>>> Or also when you allow storage devices or files originating from
>>> another box to be plugged in (eg via CD or USB stick) to the system
>>> we're considering - there are other virus transport mechanisms besides
>>> network connections (maybe you meant that but didn't say it as
>>> such)...
>>>
>>> So the choice would seem to be permanent isolation, or permanent
>>> worry, or keep taking the happy pills. It's obviously unthinkable to
>>> change the underlying OS, right?
>> Storage devices have been a vector for malware in the past, but you don't 
>> hear much about such incidents any longer!
>>
>> Once upon at time the mad race to "steal" software fueled the flow of 
>> virii via floppy disks.  While it's still possible, to propagate a virus 
>> in this way, I don't think it's anywhere near as common as it used to be!
> 
> 
> The three golden rules to ensure computer security are: do not own a 
> computer; do not power it on; and do not use it.
>                 -- Robert H. Morris
>                    Chief Scientist, NSA National Computer Security Center
> 
> 

He should know! ;-)  ISTR that his son Robert T. Morris pointed this out 
quite dramatically!!  But people learn very slowly. . . .

If you haven't read Cliff Stoll's book on the subject, you've missed a 
very good read!