Survival Time for Unpatched Systems Cut by Half

[Brian Kelsay]

"We're working on doing just that." translates to "This will take longer than you think as we 
research how to make those changes in the convoluted security system we have kludged together to 
satisfy management."   Just kidding.

Synchronized mowing anyone?  Missing man mowing formation.
You had to be at the after-meeting last night to get that one.

Brian Kelsay

>>> "Monty J. Harder" <lists at kc.rr.com> 08/18/04 11:10AM >>>

  About a year ago we had an IM virus going about work.  This thing opens up
IM windows to everyone on your Buddy List saying to check out a web page,
the name of which suggests that Usama Bin Laden had just been captured.  If
you click on the link, you go to what looks like a news site that requires
you to download a plugin before you can access the content on the page.  The
dumbasses at corporate IT shut down the ports that IM accesses, rather than
simply blocking the IP address of the website (then setting up DNS for that
domain name to go to an intranet redirect page telling them the link that
took them there was an indication that the sender's computer was
compromised, etc.)  I emailed the polite suggestion that they do so to the
IT person who sent out the news that they'd blocked all IM and got back the
answer "We're working on doing just that."