Re: Top three "Security's Heaviest Hitters"

Hi Kevin,

Norman Dunbar.
Contract Oracle DBA.
Rivers House, Leeds.

Internal : 7 28 2051
External : 0113 231 2051

>>> "Kevin Lidh" <kevin.lidh_at_gmail.com> 02/23/06 03:39pm >>>

>> When I bought my son's PC for
>> Christmas, I installed Windows XP SP2 which I thought was the latest
and
>> greatest. I turned on the auto update feature and 36 patches later,
he was
>> set.

To be fair, it could simply be that when you bought your system and got SP2 more security problems had been found and required. I bought a new Dell laptop for my wife and it needed 48 security patches before it was 'up to date'.

My Suse 10.0 Linux system(s) happily upgrade themselves - and never need a reboot, even when the kernel is patched - the above mentioned laptop needed 5 reboots before it was ready.

Then the Virus stuff needed a patch and reboot as well, of course :o)

However, my bug-bear with Windows XP (the Home version anyway) is simply this :

.. Administrator user has no passowrd by default .. all created users have no password by default, and have administrator rights.

Oops !

That info was not in the Dell user guide. I had discovered it ages ago when I bought my own Sony laptop. Suffice to say, the system was seriously amended before I considered plugging into the internet !

So, the unknowing user buys a PC/laptop, connects to the internet and gets nailed in about 5 minutes (or so I'm told) because of the inbuilt 'security' of the system.

Influential - I'll say !

Cheers,
Norman.

Information in this message may be confidential and may be legally privileged. If you have received this message by mistake, please notify the sender immediately, delete it and do not copy it to anyone else.

We have checked this email and its attachments for viruses. But you should still check any attachment before opening it.

We may have to make this message and any reply to it public if asked to under the Freedom of Information Act, Data Protection Act or for litigation. Email messages and attachments sent to or from any Environment Agency address may also be accessed by someone other than the sender or recipient, for business purposes.

If we have sent you information and you wish to use it please read our terms and conditions which you can get by calling us on 08708 506 506. Find out more about the Environment Agency at www.environment-agency.gov.uk

--
http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l