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From: cem@intelca.UUCP (Chuck McManis)
Newsgroups: net.followup
Subject: Re: Must computer systems be an armed camp?
Message-ID: <464@intelca.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 17-Dec-84 14:11:13 EST
Article-I.D.: intelca.464
Posted: Mon Dec 17 14:11:13 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 20-Dec-84 01:14:57 EST
References: <817@bnl.UUCP> <229@looking.UUCP>
Organization: Intel, Santa Clara, Ca.
Lines: 37

Brad Templeton writes :
>"Laws against theft attack the symptom, not the problem.  What are truly
>necessary are bolted doors, security patrols, guard dogs, and fully
>authenticated access procedures.   Anybody who protects their house with
>something as easily breakable as glass is ASKING to be broken into.
>Anybody who leaves their door unlocked might as well give their property away."
>Yet this is the sort of attitude I see posted to the net.  When I grew up
>we never locked our house or car unless away for a long period like
>a vacation.   There was a much more common attitude back then that it was
>WRONG to invade other people's property whether it was easy or not.  If you
>find a wallet with I.D. on the ground do you take the money just because
>it's easy?
>
Now children are a different story.  They are immature and don't understand

As I see it, it would not make sense to leave a bank unlocked and unprotected
after hours, or a toy store. The computer systems most often broken into are
not "private" systems, but rather "business" systems. Wouldn't it be a bit
dreary to break into someones IBM PC and steal their recipie(sp?) file? It
has historically been true that if you heard a modem tone on the answering
line that you were listening to some big and intriguing computer. However
these days, and even more so in the future, you will probably be listening
to someones home computer. When that is the case, all computers will 
benefit since random modem seeking programs will not be nearly as effective
if they return 150 phone numbers rather than say 10. The effort needed to 
find a computer will exceed the threshold of many password hackers and 
the problem will be reduced. A perfectly clever way to hide your modem
from these guys is to have you phone answered by an answering machine
that talks for a while >30 sec and then kicks in the modem, most search
programs will have long since given up. 

--Chuck
-- 
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