<OT> War driveing for dollars....

[Thomas Condon]

Jerry McBride wrote:
> On Friday 19 August 2005 01:44 am, koko wrote:
> 
>>If this is the wrong list to bring this up on please let me know.  I would
>>love to hear any comments by those that work the floor, and those that
>>"manage" between the floor and the executives about how available
>>technology meets up with security.  
> 
> 
> It's easy to sum up.... there is no security. It's all a game. Hopefully, the 
> white hats win more than the black hats.

Here is a thought for all of you to cogitate on for a while.

In olden days, when we moved from one age to another (i.e., the bronze 
age to the iron age), those societies who insisted on keeping with the 
old age tools and methods were wiped out (to use the "technical" term) 
by those who quickly adapted to the new tools/methods.  You can research 
the specific cases if you wish, but it happened many times and many 
places around the globe.  There was an existing infrastructure to the 
powerful societies that provided what *had* been the power position in 
the local environment and which did not wish to give up that powerful 
position.  It tended to keep those societies locked into the wrong age. 
  However, the use of bronze weapons was no match for the use of iron 
weapons, no mater how many bronze swords you could turn out.  [Old 
military axiom: Most generals spend their lives preparing to fight the 
last war.]

We are currently moving from the atomic age to the information age.  If 
we don't adapt to the methods/tools of the information age we will be 
left behind.  This will require a paradigm shift from our current 
thinking about information.  What the new paradigm will be has not yet 
been defined (or I am not aware of it), but you can bet it will be 
difficult to make that change.  Our children may have a much better 
chance of it than we have, but we have something working for us.  We are 
technologically experienced/oriented.  If we weren't we would not be 
using/talking about Linux.  As such, we are used to a changing world. 
That alone gives us a leg up on adapting.  However, we need to discover 
the new paradigm so we can get moving in that direction.

What you see with these security problems is the inability of the old 
infrastructure to adapt to the changing methods of the information age. 
  Information (at least in my opinion) will not be something that can be 
hidden in the future.  So we need new ways to deal with the lack of 
secrecy that was part of the entire cold-war of the atomic age.  Getting 
any embedded infrastructure (management) to deal with this shift will be 
nothing short of a miracle.

Just my opinion.

In Harmony's Way, and In A Chord,

Tom Condon

[PS.   Working on a Navy base, I've seen the worst of knee-jerk 
reactions to the security problems.  All infrared devices and wireless 
devices were outlawed on our base.  Including the remote unlock device 
for cars, any cell phone with digital capability, and even the remote 
device that advances the power-point slide show.  Now *that* is adapting 
to a changed situation!  NOT!!!]