On Tue, 04 May 2004 07:11:25 -0400, fasstdak@hotmail.com ("Bernd D.
Ratsch") wrote:
>They're not "Morons" Bill...just "End Users". ;)
hmm... $luser seems more appropriate. :-)
>Make sure the auto-update is set to automatically download and install
>critical updates (simple to do on a system image or push via SMS or other
>remote management software)...and you're pretty much ok. Filtering these
>viruses is really up to the IT Staff/NOC as they need to make sure that the
>firewalls and mailservers are updated. The last two companies I worked at
>(in the IT field)...we never had a virus - firewall, systems management, and
>email server were all setup to prevent this type of problem (Yes...Linux,
>SUN, and Windows servers/clients).
That's where there's basically a line drawn in a managed corporate
network (where company/security policy overrides the silly demands of
end users to run other applications -- just ask any of the folks on
the list who can't access the web from work :-) ) and the ISP
environment where the silly demands of end users to run other
applications are the source of your income.
The settings on individual users' machines are up to them, not the
ISP. I've been dealing with these issues for 8 years now. You can
easily block all of this trash in a corporate network (I do for the
networks I manage, and they have no problems). However, when you have
home users who are all trying to do something different and pay you
for access, you can't very well go blocking every vulnerable port.
Believe me -- I've tried, and invariable someone complains because
they're trying to run some obscure application.
The point is that in an ISP environment, you can never filter every
virus for every user. It's just not practical. It's time for end
users (both home users and those in smaller companies who don't have
an IT department) to take responsibility and keep their machines
updated or turn on automatic updates. When a user signs up for a
dial-up account, I can't very well install remote management software
to push updates to their machine. Nor can I control (or do I want to
control) what files they download or what applications they can run.
I have *never* been infected with a virus, nor have any of the
machines that I actually manage.
-Bill
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Jun 01 2004 - 10:59:11 EDT