Xref: utzoo comp.protocols.tcp-ip:5279 comp.unix.wizards:12292
Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!convex!killer!texbell!uhnix1!sugar!ficc!peter
From: peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip,comp.unix.wizards
Subject: UNIX bashing (Re: a holiday gift from Robert "wormer" Morris)
Message-ID: <2186@ficc.uu.net>
Date: 10 Nov 88 15:38:40 GMT
References: <1698@cadre.dsl.PITTSBURGH.EDU> <2060@spdcc.COM> <76424@sun.uucp> <11226@cgl.ucsf.EDU>
Distribution: na
Organization: SCADA
Lines: 32

In article <11226@cgl.ucsf.EDU>, seibel@cgl.ucsf.edu (George Seibel) writes:
> In article <76424@sun.uucp> dre%ember@Sun.COM (David Emberson) writes:
> >[Matt Bishop (now at Dartmouth)] wrote a paper detailing at least a half
> >dozen holes in the Unix system...

UNIX in general or things like sendmail that are specific to BSD?

> "Congratulations!  You just
> bought a fine copy of Unix.  Don't keep any files you care about on it."
[ because we're not going to fix any security holes ]

You see, this is the sort of response we're going to get from this sort
of confusion. UNIX is not just BSD. The latest release of System V has
many security improvements... some of which were apparently made at the
urging of Robert Morris himself.

Another consideration.

Most of the individuals who buy computers run MS-DOS, a file manager and
program loader that doesn't begin to try to keep viruses out. It can't,
for obvious reasons. For all its faults, UNIX is a lot more secure than
the alternatives available to the general public.

The typical virus in an unprotected DOS or OS is at most a few K of
code... many only a few hundred bytes. This worm required a leader that
was nearly a hundred lines of 'C' code by itself.

Let's keep a sense of proportion.
-- 
Peter da Silva  `-_-'  Ferranti International Controls Corporation
"Have you hugged  U  your wolf today?"     uunet.uu.net!ficc!peter
Disclaimer: My typos are my own damn business.   peter@ficc.uu.net