Just an irrelevant cooment, but check out the labels on that stuff - over half is probably manufactured IN the worlds most populous Communist state.

But back to the original subject.  There have been a few articles about the security of Windows, Linux etc, but I for one had never really considered the danger of Windows being on 90% of business and military machines.  It certainly does make one wonder what would happen if a country was to decide to fund a group for the purpose of crashing the western world.  I can think of a few countries that have leaders who might just be crazy enough to try it!  It might be interesting to know just how the military would keep their systems free from such an attack, though clearly the details would not be publishable - that would defeat the object.

There again, perhaps an article on how banks and large corporations think they can defend themselves against such an attack and defend our interests.  I shudder to think what would happen if some despot managed to cause a mass crash!

My god!  I wouldn't be able to access the Micro Mart forum!!!!  I'm having withdrawal symptoms just thinking about it!  Excuse me while I have a cup of tea and try to relax myself. (LOL)

Laptop - HP pavilion Tx 1250

Turion X2, 1gb sodimm DDRII, 160gb, media centre & tablet

Vista - oh so slow - please do something about it M$

Desktop - varies on an almost daily basis depending on what I have lying around & want to play with

The More I Know The Less I Understand!

AKA: ASSinity - as mentioned in Micromart Magazine.

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Please make links active. It looks a lot nicer, and is more convenient for members

I stand corrected, you are of course right!  When I was in the Merchant Navy we were always told to respect the laws of the country we are in; they have a right to govern as they please.  However, that right does not seem to be reciprocated - it seems that we have to change to accommodate everybody else and all their foibles.  I cannot help but feel that this is mainly a western European trait whilst the rest of the world carries on doing as they please while laughing at us.

But coming back to the thread again, I still think a piece on security in the large corporations and how they will avoid a meltdown would be interesting.

regards to all

Laptop - HP pavilion Tx 1250

Turion X2, 1gb sodimm DDRII, 160gb, media centre & tablet

Vista - oh so slow - please do something about it M$

Desktop - varies on an almost daily basis depending on what I have lying around & want to play with

How much to spend on it, though? This is properly determined by a risk assessment (aka doing a Mario), 'seriousness' being the product of two factors:

1) the estimated amount of damage caused by potential hazards (eg hours or days of turnover lost to system failures) and,
2) the likelihood of each such hazard occurring (twice a year, once in a blue moon etc)

People will naturally differ in the quantities they assigh to each variable.

The next step is to assign proportionate and cost-effective risk-control measures to each hazard. Daily backups and an offsite backup store are thought to cover a multitude of these. The cost of insurance policies is largely determined statistically, based on historical risk.

You'll see extinguishers, marked fire exits and blankets in many workplaces, but you don't see a primed fire hose every five metres, because the costs would outweigh the potential risks, although that is essentially a matter of opinion.

The OP imagines a doomsday scenario, and talks up the likelihood of this taking place because of backdoor vulnerabilities in commercial operating systems. Problems with this (referring to the likelihood that the doomsday scenario will actually happen), in my opinion, are that

1) OSs are now developed by very large teams rather than a few individuals and,
2) It's hard (although possible in theory) to design universal vulnerabilities that won't be picked up somewhere along the line.

My guess is that government risk-assessments will also distinguish between core and secondary functions for reasons of cost-effectiveness, because if the tax system goes down for a few weeks it's just inconvenient, while if military comms go down we may be in some trouble.