RE: [fw-wiz] Ethics, morality and the industry

MHawkins_at_TULLIB.COM
Date: 10/28/04

  • Next message: Mike Smith: "[fw-wiz] Re: Ethics, morality and the industry" 
    To: paul@compuwar.net, firewall-wizards@honor.icsalabs.com
Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2004 12:25:42 -0400

    Apart from Hollywood, what other group can you think of that rewards such
    behavior with notoriety, kudos and appearance fees?

    -----Original Message-----
    From: firewall-wizards-admin@honor.icsalabs.com
    [mailto:firewall-wizards-admin@honor.icsalabs.com]On Behalf Of Paul D.
    Robertson
    Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2004 11:59 AM
    To: firewall-wizards@honor.icsalabs.com
    Subject: [fw-wiz] Ethics, morality and the industry

    This year's CSI conference features the self-advancing "Catch me if you
    can" guy, Frank Abagnale as a keynote speaker.

    Because of this, one of my co-workers, Bill Murray, has withdrawn from
    speaking, as has Howard Schmidt with the "people who commit felonies
    shouldn't profit from the results of their nefarious deeds, let
    alone be sponsored by the security industry" train of thought[1].

    Bill's done the same before with a different organization advancing Kevin
    Mitnick in the past. Personally, I think it's fantastic that there are
    still people in this world who are willing to take the moral high ground,
    and hold it.

    There's an interesting blurry line between doing things for good, and
    doing things that may be good or bad. Hence I've mixed emotions about
    people putting together tools that really tend to have more value to the
    masses of bad guys than they do to the good guys. We know tunneling is
    bad, we know it's an issue, and we don't need more tunnels to prove it-
    let alone ones that are script-kiddie enabled to go through the
    perimeter. Maybe there's a grouping of "definitely good people,
    definitely bad people and sorta mixed in the middle" that I keep in my
    mind- certainly, I try to associate with "definitely good people." Maybe
    it's time I hung up a "Please don't feed the script kiddies" sign?

    Anyway, I just figured I'd hop up on the soapbox and tip my hat to Bill
    Murray and Howard Schmidt. Keeping your moral compass pointing in the
    right direction is a good thing. We're an industry built on trust and
    ethics, and even if you don't particularly agree with someone's morality,
    it's not a bad thing to respect that they'll hold their ethics- it's easy
    to be ethical when nothing's on the line, the test is when you stand to
    lose something.

    Mostly, I just wanted to publicly voice my support for
    these gentlemen's actions, which to me speak much louder than words.

    Paul
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    -
    Paul D. Robertson "My statements in this message are personal opinions
    paul@compuwar.net which may have no basis whatsoever in fact."
    probertson@trusecure.com Director of Risk Assessment TruSecure Corporation
    _______________________________________________
    firewall-wizards mailing list
    firewall-wizards@honor.icsalabs.com
    http://honor.icsalabs.com/mailman/listinfo/firewall-wizards
    _______________________________________________
    firewall-wizards mailing list
    firewall-wizards@honor.icsalabs.com
    http://honor.icsalabs.com/mailman/listinfo/firewall-wizards

  • Next message: Mike Smith: "[fw-wiz] Re: Ethics, morality and the industry"

    Relevant Pages

    • RE: [fw-wiz] Ethics, morality and the industry
      ... > still people in this world who are willing to take the moral high ground, ... Hence I've mixed emotions about ... We know tunneling is ... > Paul D. Robertson "My statements in this message are personal opinions ...
      (Firewall-Wizards)
    • [fw-wiz] Ethics, morality and the industry
      ... Hence I've mixed emotions about ... We know tunneling is ... I just figured I'd hop up on the soapbox and tip my hat to Bill ... Paul D. Robertson "My statements in this message are personal opinions ...
      (Firewall-Wizards)
    • Re: Bringing the sport into disrepute
      ... I'm boggling from the idea that Ferrari ever held the moral high ground. ... Paul ...
      (rec.autos.sport.f1)