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

From: Paul Foster (Paul.Foster_at_dmtsystems.net)
Date: 10/29/04

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    To: firewall-wizards@honor.icsalabs.com
Date: Fri, 29 Oct 2004 17:44:18 +1000

    I personally feel that this form of boycott is a really bad idea.

    Individuals such as Abagnale and Mitnick have done the time for their
    crimes, why do we continue to persecute them? I'd argue that this type
    of condemnation is immoral and unethical, they must be given the chance
    to engage and positively contribute to society.

    I would expect security professionals to be especially practical about
    the matter. If released felons cannot use their existing skills within
    the law, what can we expect them to do? It is harder to reskill, so
    there is a significant likelihood of them reoffending. That outcome is
    counter-productive to security.

    These individuals took the wrong path and paid the price. Let's learn
    from them, both practically and about the factors that motivated them to
    cross the line. Hopefully we can convince others to use their skill
    productively rather than becoming 'the enemy'.

    -PF

    > Message: 3
    > Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2004 11:58:48 -0400 (EDT)
    > From: "Paul D. Robertson" <paul@compuwar.net>
    > 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 Because of this, one of my co-workers, Bill Murray, has withdrawn from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
    >
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