Re: Putting together a server/network...

[Mike Ayers <mike.ayers@earthling.net>]

"Dr. Evil" wrote:
> 
> > > Just out of curiosity, on a fully switched LAN why is telnet a bad thing?
> 
> You don't understand: I don't have to tell you why telnet is a bad
> thing.  You have to tell my why it's a good thing.

	No, it is YOU who don't understand.  Security is based on knowledge and
understanding, period.  If Steve needs to know what makes telnet
unsecure in a certain environment, it is best to inform him so that he
then can figure out what ELSE is insecure in that environment. 
Furthermore, using ANY security system without knowing why it works will
rarely help - you can make the people lock their doors, but if you don't
explain about the thief in town, they'll still throw open the windows
when it gets hot.

	At work, I use rlogin and telnet a lot - for communicating between
machines which (1) are behind a firewall and (2) don't contain anything
worth stealing (it's a test network).  This saves me a lot of time
installing ssh & co., which would provide no net gain.

	In any case, an argument of "I say so, so you have to do what I say
unless you can PROVE to me that you shouldn't" doesn't wash after second
grade!

> Cryptography everywhere is a very good idea.  OpenBSD is almost
> there...  It has only one huge gaping hole of plaintext.

	Which would be what?


/|/|ike