TooMuchGreen

So, another government organisation was brought to it’s knees on New Years Day by the W32 Conficker worm virus (professional etiquette prevents me from revealing my source and the institution in question), nice timing, and a happy new year.

The result of the attack was a 100% national lockout of all computer user accounts & till systems, quite something and a nice introduction to 2010 for the poor I.T staff who had to drop their games consoles to tackle a major security breach whilst the rest of the UK were sat finishing off the Christmas chocolates and watching TV with their feet up.

It’s both amusing and bemusing for me as a staunch Linux advocate that mainstream business enterprise still choose to live in the grip of such crushing potential by continually opting for a flawed and insecure Microsoft platform, not only do they choose to do so, they also pay extensively for the privilege. Aside from the obvious base licence fees the extra security patching & associated strategies require further funding, which would be all well and good if the outcome provided a secure and stable result, however it only takes one un-patched machine or insecure network share to bring on the carnage, as was obviously the case here, had Conficker dropped onto a Linux infrastructure (or tried to) the day would have most certainly been a more relaxed and less confusing affair for all concerned.

Us humans posses a quite staggering trait for amazing lack of common sense and contributory direction toward self harm on a huge scale, this on-going situation surrounding software security and data integrity in the modern age is definitely up there with the best of the ever increasing insanity. We’re taught “common sense” from an early age in nursery rhymes and children’s stories but perhaps we don’t think they’re relevant to the “grown up” world?

There’s an example I use for descriptive comparison which pulls on the classic fable “The Three Little Pigs”, we all know the story, the straw house, the wooden house, the brick house etc so it’s going to be no surprise a freshly built un-patched Microsoft computer enjoys the resultant instability of straw, however at the other end a Linux platform is not only more secure than the brick house, it’s virtually impenetrable. Unlike the wooden house (the analogy for a “patched” MS system) the Linux house comes pre-built with all it’s doors and windows firmly shuttered and bolted, the virus-ridden old wolf doesn’t stand a chance.

I purposely try to avoid “Microsoft bashing” as it’s just not productive however I am increasingly confused as to why any “intelligent” business decision would involve opting for a product which is more expensive, inherently insecure and one which requires substantially higher on-going maintenance than a visibly more suitable and completely compatible alternative, especially as the potential shortfalls can not only contribute to time, effort and resulting well being for the people involved in maintaining these products but given the worst case scenario could irrevocably damage a business beyond redemption.

Choosing Linux is NOT just about saving a few pounds here and there, it could quite literally save your livelihood. Computer hackers are getting cleverer, why “choose” to make it easy for them?

If you would like to find out more about the security advantages of migrating to a Linux platform TooMuchGreen are specialists in this area and would be more than happy to visit you to discuss options.

Feel free to get in touch via the contact page. Be SECURE in 2010.