[MLB-WIRELESS] A shining example of why businesses *should not* use 802.11b

[Andrew Harcourt]

> Best Buy closes wireless registers
> Hackers say credit card data vulnerable; other retailers
> at risk
> By Bob Sullivan

I'd disagree that businesses should not use 802.11b. Rather, I'd simply
suggest that stupid people not be given quite so much rope with which to
hang themselves. (And I know that you're not a proponent of his argument,
but simply posting it as a courtesy to people who may not have read it - so,
this isn't a personal attack and please don't take it that way.) As for
personal attacks on Mr Sullivan however, one thinks he should have obtained
just a *few* more facts together before putting fingers to keyboard.

How many times have you been at a store where someone starts reading your
credit card details over the phone to someone, somewhere in a faraway place
in order to check the card if their online system isn't working? There have
been a few cases where this has happened and I have interrupted the person
reading out my details without my permission, taken my card back and gone
somewhere else. Is this the fault of the telephone? I'd say not. It's the
fault of the user of that telephone for not taking the proper security
precautions.

Simply, if you don't want to spend the dollars on securing your systems,
just don't build new systems in the first place. If you hire some idiot
straight out of an MCSE course, of *course* they're going to stuff it up. If
you're a small business, maybe you can't afford to hire someone with a few
more clues - but then, one would argue, if you can't afford to set it up
correctly, perhaps you can't really afford it at all.

Just my $0.02, but it's worth remembering that people are stupid, not
technologies, and it's the way we use these technologies that gets us into
trouble.


Regards,
Andrew






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