Re: [Full-disclosure] Getting Off the Patch

["Thor (Hammer of God)" <thor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>No, I'm taking the position that "most people" are in fact solely relying
>on patching because they are clueless and they wouldn't even be patching at
>all if auto-update wasn't turned on. (And Cal caught on what I meant in his
>reply - that there's two very disjoint communities).
>
>And that changes the calculus of "best practices" - what's "best" at a shop
>that has thousands of managed nodes and a staff of dozens of experienced
>sysadmins is different from a shop that has dozens of machines and one
>semi-clued guy with a McSE. (We'll leave home machines out of the equation
>for now - it's safe to assume that *those* machines the operating system
>has to take steps to protect itself, including auto-patching, because the
>user won't do it).

My mistake then - I shouldn't have inferred your position from previous thread 
subject matter. 


>And that's something I've noticed is lacking from much of the discussion -
>the business case for deploying something.  Sure, something might well be
>more secure, but unless the added security is worth more than the added
>cost, time, and effort, it's actually a bad idea to deploy.

This is precisely what I asked for several times and never received.  When the 
idea was presented, it indicated a serious deficiency of any depth of knowledge 
just around security and engineering, not to mention the requirements for dev, 
legal and compliance.  Being the kind-hearted and generous type of person I am, 
I assumed that I was missing something, and that there would be an opportunity 
to review some sort of qualifying data.  There isn't any, so I reverted back to 
my original position. 

I don't always agree with your viewpoints, but I know that there is always 
merit to your position that I should take into account.  Not that you care or 
need my approval or agreement, but thanks for the clarification.

t

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