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Re: [LUG] budget cuts

 

On 20/10/10 22:29, Guy Backhouse wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> On Wed, 2010-10-20 at 21:07 +0100, Gibbs wrote:
>> On 20/10/10 19:20, Paul Sutton wrote:
>>> Hi
>>>
>>> now that we are starting to see the extent of budget cuts do you think
>>> as a lug we can ALL step up a gear and get public services onto Open
>>> source as a long term strategy,  perhaps the savings will offset some of
>>> the cuts in services that are coming up
>>>
>>> I know some of us are doing this,  but I am looking at the whole lug to
>>> do this, after all its you're local services that are going to get the
>>> chop possibly,
>>>
>>> Paul
>> For me it depends on what the £1,000,000,000+ on "cyber security" 
>> equates too.
>>
>> Gibbs
>>
> Definition of; 'Cyber Security'  -  A means of depriving the people of
> their (tax) monies that could be used to avoid a lot of the stringent
> cuts yet is claimed to be needed, the people will have no clue as to
> what it 'equates to' or for that matter how most of it is spent!!
> 
> Guy
> 
> 
Cyber crime could cost this country a lot in time, money and effort. I
have no issue with them spending money to tackle the problem, what I do
have issue with is the approach taken.

The issue I have is that basic security is everyone's concern. The
assumption is that the general public don't know how to secure there
computers properly and so lets invest in a massive infrastructure for
detecting security issues and tackling them behind the scenes. Much
better to educate people to lock their own doors in the morning than to
pay for an expensive security team to come around and check if you did
lock your door or not.

So much could be achieved with a little training.

First lesson should be DON'T USE INHERENTLY INSECURE OPERATING SYSTEMS
(that is install gnu/linux).

Train people to evaluate emails, use public private keys and generally
think about their own cyber security.

Don't download any old thing just because it "looks" good.

Tom.


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