Food for thought

[mikea]

On Wed, Mar 03, 2004 at 09:20:36PM +0100, Peter Bonivart wrote:

[About various worms that require explicit user interaction to spread]

> I guess the real question is, how is it possible that there still is
> users stupid enough to spread this? :-)

Where I work, a place which I'll refer to as WeBuildHighways, about
10% of the users are Registered Professional Engineers, and the rest
are quite sharp in their technical specialties -- most of which have
little or nothing to do with the internals of E-mail or operating
systems.

I get at least one "Should I do this" note per week from my user
community about deleting the "JDBGMGR.EXE virus -- the one with
the panda bear as the icon". Usually it's a forward from someone
else at work who has just deleted that virus because someone outside
told him/her/it to do so.

It's no wonder at all to me that the social engineering in more recent
worms works so well: these people are ignorant and gullible, and if
(to quote a poster in another mailing list) each of them got a note
with instructions to put a sharp pencil up against an eyelid and run
down the hall as fast as possible, I suspect at least a few would do
just that.

This quote applies, too:

     "I think when people get on the Internet their common
     sense may be weakened if not suspended."
         -- Charles Harwood, regional director of the
            Federal Trade Commission's Seattle office.
--
Mike Andrews
mikea at mikea.ath.cx
Tired old sysadmin