Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!cmcl2!rutgers!apple!bionet!agate!ucbvax!SOL.ENGIN.UMICH.EDU!bhoward
From: bhoward@SOL.ENGIN.UMICH.EDU
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: Re: rtm and uucp
Message-ID: <8811250157.AA17649@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Date: 22 Nov 88 01:11:00 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 45


	From louie.udel.edu!law Mon Nov 21 18:22:58 1988
	From: law@louie.udel.edu
	Sender: tcp-ip-request@sri-nic.arpa
	To: tcp-ip@sri-nic.arpa
	Date: 13 Nov 88 19:24:53 GMT
	Organization: University of Delaware
	Message-Id: <5356@louie.udel.EDU>
	References: <8409@alice.UUCP>, <8597@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US>
	Subject: Re: rtm and uucp
	
	In article <8597@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US> jfh@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US (John F. Haugh II) writes:
	>It would be so nice if someone would undertake a security audit to
	>insure that work other college students did, which *is* currently
	>in production, doesn't contain any surprizes.
	>Our friendly enchilada may not be the only prankster out there ...
	I sincerely hope you are not making a general statement about college
	students.  I take great pride in the fact that UDel allows some students
	to work at the system level, even in system administration, I happen
	to be one of those students and have taken slight offense to the recent
	messages that seem to knock college students as being like RTM.  Not
	all of us write worms and think about how to break security in our spare
	time.
	 
	--
	Jeffrey A Law
	University of Delaware  PHONE: (302)-451-8005,  (302)-451-6339
	ARPA: law@udel.EDU,  UUCP: ...!<your_favorite_arpa_gateway>!udel.edu!law
	
the computer aided engineering network (caen) at the university of michigan depends
on a core of 23 fulltime professionals and a roughly equal number of "student"
professionals to maintain our network of 500+ apollos, 50+ suns, 350 macs and maciis
and assorted ibm machines.  the distinction is mostly an artificial one, emphasizing
a difference in pay, rather than responsibility or skill.  these students are help
maintain basic systems services, software development and (perhaps not surprisingly)
systems security.  they are routinely given the root password and determine with
the rest of the systems group who else also requires its use.  there has never been
any question of their integrity.

the suggestion that college students are any more unreliable as a group than, for
example, professional systems staff, is unfounded.  people respond as they are treated;
if treated as responsible members of the computing community, in general, they will
respond in kind.  if constantly placed in an adversarial role, they become your nemesis.

					bruce howard