Users Are Fools?

User Education is Pointless

Who does this clown think he is? What an insult.

ZDNet wrote:

Users are often called the weakest link in computer security. They can't select secure passwords, and they write down passwords and give them out to strangers in exchange for treats. They use old or outdated security software, can't spell the word "phishing," and click on all links that arrive in e-mail or instant messages, and all that appear on the Web.

Well, everything you have quoted is generally true. I know many people who fit those criteria almost perfectly.

Angus Higgins

That article snippet is true...Social-Engineering is one of the biggest problems today, because users ARE the weakest link in a system.

The biggest security risk in todays world of computers is the fool sitting between the chair and the monitor ... and that is a fact !

Reminds me of a t-shirt I got at thinkgeek:

>Select * from users where clue > 0
0 rows returned

irascian wrote:

Reminds me of a t-shirt I got at thinkgeek:

>Select * from users where clue > 0
0 rows returned

FOOLS they is - they turns off our UAC's
and clicks our precious links...

No..No... its isnt our faults... it's... their faults... Yeees!  Yees! that's it...  schmegel wants them smilies

COUGH COUGH

jamie wrote:



FOOLS they is - they turns off our UAC's
and clicks our precious links...

No..No... its isnt our faults... it's... their faults... Yeees!  Yees! that's it...  schmegel wants them smilies

COUGH COUGH

Thats always been my thoughts behind security; If you could make a 100% secure, unhackable OS users would be the ones getting attacked.

Quote somewhat taken out of context.  The quote itself seems quite rude (and should have been worded differently).  However, the gist of the article is correct -- that users should not be expected to fix security holes.  IT must do it.

Lets not forget why our industry exists.  We don't exist solely to entertain ourselves (that's just a fortunate side-effect ).  We're here to serve those "foolish" users, and providing them a secure environment in which to do their job is part of our job we've been pretty rotten at so far.  Blaming them for the problem is an insult.  However, recognizing that we (as an industry) must address a security weakness without relying on the users changing their behavior is a correct perception of reality.

HBEaker wrote:

Quote somewhat taken out of context. 

Lets not forget why our industry exists.  We don't exist solely to entertain ourselves (that's just a fortunate side-effect ).  We're here to serve those "foolish" users, and providing them a secure environment in which to do their job is part of our job we've been pretty rotten at so far.