[CentOS] SELinux threads, cynicism, one-upmanship, etc.

[Lamar Owen]

On Thursday 17 November 2005 18:12, Chris Mauritz wrote:
> Lamar Owen wrote:
> >After reading through the various SELinux threads, I really became quite
> >perturbed.  I mean, really quite perturbed.

> If you get perturbed over something so trivial, perhaps it's time to
> re-examine your priorities in life.  8-)

Security is not trivial.  Or do you want your server or workstation to become 
a zombie in the next cyberattack?  What if that attack is against a 
government?  What if said government is your own and they decide to try you 
because you didn't prevent the attack (could happen; saw headlines last week 
about open wireless being outlawed somewhere)?  What if you are found guilty, 
or, in a civil action, found personally liable because you consciously turned 
off a security feature that was known to prevent said attack from occurring 
(like, for instance, and allow everything outgoing firewall, perhaps).

Security is never trivial.

When I have to explain to an astronomer that that once in a lifetime radio 
followup to a gamma ray burst was wiped out because I was too lazy to 
properly secure the system, I won't think it was trivial.

The 'security is trivial' mindset is why we have Windows.

> overhead/bloat on a system that doesn't really need it.  Building a
> firewall?  Building a hardened box that's going to be exposed to the net
> at a datacenter?

Didn't I mention Internet-facing in my post?
-- 
Lamar Owen
Director of Information Technology
Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute
1 PARI Drive
Rosman, NC  28772
(828)862-5554
www.pari.edu