[clug] Secure your Internet facing stuff (was Re: googlebot doing funny things in logs)

[Bob Edwards]

On 16/06/11 19:45, Sam Couter wrote:
> Robert Edwards<bob at cs.anu.edu.au>  wrote:
>> Are you suggesting that running insecure webservers on the public
>> internet is as dangerous as pointing guns at people?
>
> Strawman ahoy!
>
>> A truck, a gun, a toaster in the bath can kill people.
>>
>> The Internet, on the other hand, is a game. Nothing more.
>
> Counterexample:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_of_Megan_Meier
>
>

I confess I was being somewhat provocative.

Cyber-bullying is abhorent and I concede that the Internet (as
well as mobile phones etc.) have facilitated a form of bullying
that has lead to the suicides of some, esp. younger and vulnerable,
people.

Without wanting to marginalise the horror of cyber-bullying (and
all other forms of bullying), especially as a parent, I would
still argue that of all the many activities I am involved in, I am
least likely of all to be seriously injured or killed by a "worm",
"trojan", "virus", "spam", "phish", "DDOS attack" or similar coming
from the Internet, from poorly-"secured" web sites or otherwise.

On the other hand, if I was in the "security biz", I would definitely
want to make sure that more resources were poured into "securing"
the 'net. Especially as some particularly responsible people think
that it is a good idea to hook, eg., nuclear fuel processing plants
up to it...

Here is another (slightly dated) link of Internet-related deaths:
http://www.rlslog.net/happy-halloween-2007-deaths-caused-by-the-internet/
(some of them are not so Internet-related, in my mind...)

Cheers,

Bob Edwards.