[mikenola]

DoD, NSA, CIA etc, use plenty of open source sw. BIND, Apache, ssh, perl, gcc, to name a few. These tools are bundled into even the most secure "proprietary" platforms like trusted solaris, tru64 that are staples for secret/SCI systems.

"Cyberterrorism" is on overplayed threat, imo. Fortunately our enemies tend to be primitivists with little education or love for technology. The possibility of these yoyos mounting a orchestrated attack of a magnitude to do serious damage to national security is probably pretty remote.

my two cents: the trick to good data security is not necessarily the tools you use, but the staff/policy implementing them. Good security procedure is something that tends to get overlooked when one starts obsessing over the tools.

Watch your network!

[Bush2000]

DoD, NSA, CIA etc, use plenty of open source sw. BIND, Apache, ssh, perl, gcc, to name a few. These tools are bundled into even the most secure "proprietary" platforms like trusted solaris, tru64 that are staples for secret/SCI systems.

And they'd love for everyone to use tools for which they have the source code. It just makes it that much easier to find and exploit holes in your systems.

"Cyberterrorism" is on overplayed threat, imo. Fortunately our enemies tend to be primitivists with little education or love for technology. The possibility of these yoyos mounting a orchestrated attack of a magnitude to do serious damage to national security is probably pretty remote.

Agree. Few critical systems are hooked up to the Internet. Defacing a website or stealing a few credit cards is hardly a threat to national security.

my two cents: the trick to good data security is not necessarily the tools you use, but the staff/policy implementing them. Good security procedure is something that tends to get overlooked when one starts obsessing over the tools.

Absolutely, but you have to understand something: Many of the same people pushing *nix as a "superior" solution are the same fools that believe their systems are invulnerable.

[rdb3]

"Cyberterrorism" is on overplayed threat, imo. Fortunately our enemies tend to be primitivists with little education or love for technology. The possibility of these yoyos mounting a orchestrated attack of a magnitude to do serious damage to national security is probably pretty remote.

On one hand, I agree with your assertion that the chances of this happening is remote due to their lack of sophistication in using technology. But on the other hand, let's not forget that some Muslims like bin Laden are men of means. In other words, what's preventing him from hiring European hackers who are anti-American and paying them untold amounts of money?

Money talks; BS runs a marathon.