We fixed the keg said:Quote:
While it would be nice for the election machines themselves to have the security updates and virus definitions applied and up to date, that would pretty much require them being connected to the Internet. If they cannot be connected to the Internet, then they would have to have those through a thumb drive or something. Does Microsoft distribute updates on a thumb drive? Does any antivirus company distribute their virus definitions on a thumb drive? Even if they could download the security updates and virus definitions to a thumb drive, applying the definitions increases the risk since the thumb drive itself could have been compromised. I can certainly understand why the computers were unpatched and the virus definitions had not been updated. Them not being patched on a computer that is only used on a stand alone network, if any network at all, is not that much of a cause for concern.
* You can update patches and virus scanning software on machines not connected to the Internet, but it is not as critical if (and wait for it) (1) they are not connected to any external network, and (2) unauthorized devices and/or non-election, non-certified code is not allowed on the network or the voting systems. Now, if all the other guidelines are followed, this would not be as big of a risk and you should have this documented in acceptable procedures.
Yep. It is not the serious issue that the so-called auditors made it out to be in their presentation.
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The part about the logs being rolled over does need more explanation. That there were additional log entries is not, in and of itself, indicative of any wrongdoing.
* …and you continue to go off the rails. (1) a subpoena was issued to secure among many things, log files, (2) someone loaded a script on a machine and executed the script over 30,000 times to other machine(s) which was identified to magically be the number to "roll" the logs. Any legitimate reason to clear the log file would dictate the user log on directly to that machine and clear the logs, not to be running destructive scripts from a different machine with bogus requests. If you, in any way think this is acceptable, I pray for the company you work for and the equipment they let you near.
YOU are the one off the rails. If they did not have access to these logs, then how could they have known that they rolled over?
The subpoena was for routers and their log files.
As I said, we need more information about the rolling over. There are a number of possibilites, some of which would be nefarious and some would not be nefarious. To just jump to the conclusion that the intention was to roll over the log files is absurd.
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They brought out an issue regarding username and password information. For a purpose such as this, it seems reasonable on the surface that each person logging into the machines have his own username and password, but that is not necessarily an issue for reasons of practicality. We should keep in mind that what is best practice for a situation in a corporate or university environment in which many different people may connect to servers on an as needed basis for a number of different purpose is not necessarily the same for a set of occasionally used single purpose machines not on a general network with limited access to them.
* It most certainly is an issue, a major issue. You have no way to control access nor log 'who did what' when you share usernames or passwords. This is one of the most basic procedures of IT security and best practices. WOW!
Yeah, this is one of the most basic procedures of IT security and best practices for shared computers on shared networks with many users. Can you provide citations to where it says that for devices used sporadically and which are never connected to anything more than a LAN require a separate username for everyone who might need to have access to it?