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Three proverbs of network security:
- Badly administered security regimes can be as detrimental
as no security at all.
- No human mind can create a puzzle that another human
mind cannot solve.
- The only absolutely secure network is one inch of space.
While the above positions may support an alarmist view
of security on the Internet, the lessons contained therein can be invaluable
to a individual or company's network. The fact of the matter is that nothing
can be absolutely secure. Despite our best efforts, there is always uncertainty.
The Titanic was supposedly unsinkable. Nevertheless, does anyone in their
right mind maintain that because the Titanic sank we should no longer
build ships and navigate the oceans?
Badly administered security regimes can be as detrimental
as no security at all.
Nothing can replace experience and know-how. You do not
let someone who has never opened the hood of a car be your mechanic. And
yet many times people with no network security experience, education and/or
training are tasked with setting up a company firewall. The private network
may relax its policies due to the apparent security of a firewall while
someone is looking through a virtual chink in the armor. That armor may
be the thickest and strongest armor available, but a hole only has to
be as big as the dagger going through it.
No human mind can create a puzzle that another human
mind cannot solve.
Were the codes used by the Nazis during World War II,
allowing them to broadcast orders and battle plans to troops in the field
without fear of enemy eavesdroppers, absolutely secure? Hint: Who lost
the war?
The only absolutely secure network is one inch of space.
For those who missed the above joke, the punchline is
that the only absolutely secure network is one where the computers on
that network are not connected to each other in any way (one inch of space
in between the plug and the socket).
People are faced with risk on a daily basis whenever
we get in a car, fly in a plane, eat at a restaurant or walk across a
wet kitchen floor. However most would agree that getting to the oatmeal
in the cupboard is worth the risk of a wet kitchen floor.
When setting up a connection to a public network, a cost/benefit
analysis must be made. Do the potential rewards outweigh the risks? With
billions of dollars changing hands on the Internet and information flowing
more freely than in any other period of human history, for many individuals
and companies, the answer is a resounding yes.
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