[Info-vax] Maybe a bit OT, maybe not.. in any case an interesting article

[Johnny Billquist]

On 2012-05-18 02:13, Nomen Nescio wrote:
> Johnny Billquist<bqt at softjar.se>  wrote:
>
>> On 2012-05-17 16:53, David Froble wrote:
>>> Bob Koehler wrote:
>>>> In article<jp0rk3$jlg$1 at dont-email.me>, David Froble
>>>> <davef at tsoft-inc.com>  writes:
>>>>> I rarely re-boot, and I never turn on automatic updates.
>>>>
>>>> This is reportedly the most common cause of actual Windows security
>>>> failures. The crackers examine the patches to find out where the
>>>> security hole is, and then attack unpatched systems.
>>>
>>> My opinion is that the most common cause of security breeches is not
>>> having a good router and other firewall protection. No, not the firewall
>>> junk on weendoze.
>>>
>>> If a cracker cannot reach my system, then he can do no harm.
>>>
>>> Anybody here that opens something that they don't already know about
>>> gets kicked off the network. Then it's not my problem.
>>
>> And the most common types of exploits are not other users contacting
>> your machine, but you inadvertedly and unknowingly downloading software
>> that exploit your system, and that software then connects to some
>> exterior host, thereby setting up an access vector to your computer.
>> If you think a firewall is protecting you in any way, you are seriously
>> mistaken.
>
> No, that's the whole point of Windows firewalls. The threat from Windows is
> within, as you said. And a good Windows firewall (zonealarm, kerio etc) not
> only allows you to stop programs from *launching* but also allows you to
> *stop* anything you haven't explicitly permitted from connecting to the net.

And if you read what I replied to, that poster explicitly pointed out 
that he was not referring to the firewall built into Windows, but 
external fire walls.

However, I could also point out that the built in protection tools are 
not really that good at protection you either...

	Johnny