G'day Bob

04 May 04 19:41, Bob Lawrence wrote to David Drummond:

 DD>> How would you "activate" this cookie if I'm not using your
 DD>> version of a browser?

 BL>  I couldn't... unless I knew there was a fatal flaw (or a backdoor)
 BL> in the browser. The problem is that when we say "browser"
we actually
 BL> mean IE. It's the universal browser, and a backdoor gives access to
 BL> 95% of all computers including commercial installations.

How many versions of IE are out there - and how many variations of service
pack and security update? Which flaw will you program for?

[...]
 BL>  Myself, I see terrorists as poor pathetic little losers like Amrosi
 BL> who blew up innocents in Bali, a second-rate car mechanic who still
 BL> thinks he'll share paradise with Allah and 47 virgins - haters who
 BL> can't succeed in this world so they aim for the next. 

Err, Bob - that is the sole reason for being Christian too - to suck up to
the right people to gain enough brownie points to ensure a favourable
treatment on death.... Death is the purpose of life....

[...]
 BL>  Is is paranioa when they are *really* conspiring against you?

 BL>  BTW, I notice that yet *another* worm has infected WindowsXP and
 BL> 2000. Microsoft say you can fix it with a patch. So where does that
 BL> leave your assertion that all you have to do be secure, is *NOT* run
 BL> the EXEs? What is it that needs a patch to stop Windows running the
 BL> worm?

Or a firewall device/package that doesn't allow traffic on that port.

(The Sasser worm could spread through Win 95/98/Me too)

We're running Win 95/98/2000 here at home, on a system that is connected to
the 'net 24/7 - no Sasser worm here.

 BL>  Apparently, it infects any machine to which you connect, and its
 BL> effect is to become TSR and reboot... continually. 

_IF_ it can connect Bob. Read your Linux security blurb, it says to close
all ports you're not using. Windows doesn't read that blurb, it has ports
open and welcoming all over the bloody place.

Do not connect a Windows machine directly to the outside world without
first installing a firewall package that isn't made by Microsoft.

Better still, fit a Linux box between the Windows box and the Internet....

Of course, that still leaves viruses and trojans..... Do not run untrusted
executables (and trust very few).

Regards,
David

--- Msged/LNX TE 06 (pre)