The Remediator Journal interviews David Barnhill, University of Kansas Academic Computing Technical Services
Imagine a time without viruses, back before 1988: when "security" wasn’t muttered in the same breath as "computers;" when security was more of a problem for mainframes at high security organizations. Since that time, much has changed.
The Remediator Journal continues the two-part interview with David Barnhill, Senior System Specialist of University of Kansas Academic Computing Technical Services, who discusses the history of viruses and worms and how hacking and security has evolved since 1988.
Back in 1991, I remember hearing about the Michelangelo virus, which was set to go off on March 6, the birthday of the famous painter. It turned out to an exaggerated incident as it impacted around 20,000 computers instead of the five million reported. If this history fascinates you, read "The Evolution of Computer Security
- Part II."
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"Our company has a limited security practice embedded in the network operation
group, but no security leadership. Our physical security group has the
experience to provide guidance, but is purposely not included in information
security discussions because they are not technical experts. How do you handle
such a situation and get the two groups playing like a team instead of against
each other?"
I know a few people who work in large companies and they’ve explained their patches are automated from the network team. They don’t have to lift a finger and employees don’t have the ability to install patches on their own. However, not all of us are in such a situation as we don’t have as tight as a control over our ship. At what point do you "force" patches to your desktop users, and when do you allow them install them at their discretion? What would a policy addressing this issue look like?
