Re: Newsgroup filtering with host server software

On Sat, 29 Dec 2007, in the Usenet newsgroup comp.security.firewalls, in article
<k0ni45x7ei.ln2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Flash Gordon wrote:

Personally I always ask *before* connecting my notebook (personal or
company) in to another companies network. Not only does it save me
getting a bollocking but it is only the polite thing to do. In my
office though I am one of the people to be asked, so I give myself
permission ;-)

I think some of the people we have problems with simply don't want to
read policy, and don't understand why there might be a reason for it.

Actually, I was given permission to hook my personal notebook in to the
company network before I had anything to do with our IT department.

It's _quite_ the reverse here. I have a "company" system at home, and
it's on it's own leased connection to the company, and must not be
connected to my home LAN. Well, my wife has the same type of setup,
so we have our own lan with a half-dozen systems, and two more
isolated from everyone else. At least the companies are providing the
hardware and paying for the extra links.

One place I visited you were not allowed to take a mobile on-site, not
even if it was switched off!

I rarely visit customer sites any more, but have run into this before.
One site I visited freaked out over a portable CD player. I had to
take it out and leave it in the rental car.

I'm in the *nix part of our shop (says the only person in the company
with a company MSDN subscription). Some development (I've slowly been
getting one of our applications to use some sensible security where I
have been rewriting them), some consultancy (for which I believe I
should understand enough about security not to make a fool of myself),
some work on our internal systems (the *nix boxes) and various other
things.

So my personal notebook runs Linux

Ah, OK - have you looked through the HOWTOs? Some are quite dated,
but still useful.

Well, late last year I suggested we lock down the machines (currently
everyone has Admin access on their Windows machines).

<bites tongue>

We shall see what happens. However, since then we have already had a
couple of incidents which we would not have had with locked down
machines.

That was a major issue at my wife's company, and was the reason someone
got 0wn3d there. They did try to lock things down, but everyone was
moaning that it made their systems unusable. Yeah, right. The "single
user" tradition of windoze is hard to overcome. You can set a windoze
box up such that admin isn't needed, but it takes some effort and most
users (*nix as well as windoze) don't want to learn anything because it
must be nerdy, hard, or fattening.

I used to work in the defence industry so I know all about *that* sort
of security.

Yeah, isn't it fun? Actually, Defense is only a small part of The
Problem - we run into landmines from the Securities and Exchange
Commission (stock market), as well as the Departments of Education,
and Health And Human Services.

I'm NOT suggesting that you _buy_ this (as it's mainly *nix,) but
the network and basic security concepts still apply.

I may well try and get my company to buy a copy. We *do* use Linux a
lot including for hosted services that we provide.

-rw-rw-r-- 1 gferg ldp 22582 Feb 6 2004 Reading-List-HOWTO

Eric dropped his listing of the 'Practical UNIX and Internet Security'
book some time ago (considered it "dated"), but lists two other books he
found useful. The LDP guides are also useful, but less so due to their
age. The newest one on security is five years old.

You may want to look around http://www.oreilly.com, as they also have
a number of books on the windoze end of things as well.

I'm sure there are. However, currently I'm taking the attitude that
Windows is Somebody Else's Problem.

My problem (both at work and at home) is budgetary - plus I like to
read. I've got quite a number of their books, and have to sneak new
ones into the house.

Apart from stirring up trouble on the Windows side by pointing out
problems, that is.

Of course - nothing wrong with that ;-)

Old guy
.

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