I'm glad so far the government haven't mentioned bringing charges against the author yet. That probably shows you how much I expect from government these days...
Massive data leak in New Zealand government servers
11–20 of 39 posts
Re: Massive data leak in New Zealand government servers
#12Keeping in mind governments can screw up this badly.. the security errors some startup's launch with don't seem so bad.
There is no excuse for some of the security errors we have seen. Especially not government incompetence being equal or greater.
It is true that startups should not concentrate on perfect security, as supplying something the buyers want should be absolute priority number one, but even then there's no reason to not at least get the basics right if there is any kind of sensitive data involved.
Re: Massive data leak in New Zealand government servers
#13This is the main reason I'm skeptical of central government databases. Not because of the miniscule chance of them enabling a police state, but because of the very great chance that the data will not be properly safeguarded.
But but but, I thought building a central health-care database is such a brilliant idea and saves so much money!11
Re: Massive data leak in New Zealand government servers
#14This is easily the biggest databreach that I have ever seen. I sincerely hope no one noticed this before, this has the potential to have a severe impact on so many lives in New Zealand.
Re: Massive data leak in New Zealand government servers
#15This is the main reason I'm skeptical of central government databases. Not because of the miniscule chance of them enabling a police state, but because of the very great chance that the data will not be properly safeguarded.
You are absolutely right and it will even get worse. The govs log your personal data including fingerprints etc. I'm real skeptical that they are able to store this sensitive data securely, but I guess I'm the exception. The most live after the slogan "I'm a honest citizen, I have nothing to hide".
Re: Massive data leak in New Zealand government servers
#16Wow, Active Directory Much? There's so many ways to do this correctly using simple groups in AD. Or hell, why do these public kiosks even need to be on the same network?
Because we're living in an alternate universe where there's no such thing as VLANs?
True, I we use a MAC Filter at work. If your MAC isn't in a whitelist, then the port get blocked. They took the file sharing a bit too seriously..
Re: Massive data leak in New Zealand government servers
#17Wow, Active Directory Much? There's so many ways to do this correctly using simple groups in AD. Or hell, why do these public kiosks even need to be on the same network?
Why would a public kiosk even be running a consumer OS? They should be running a bare-bones OS with EVERYTHING not necessary to perform their intended functions removed. AND be on their own network.
Why are power plant (and other similar) control systems in any way accessible by the internet?
Why are credit-card processor internal networks in any way accessible by the internet?
Answer: because it's what happens by default, and people are too lazy or too ignorant to configure appropriate safeguards.
Re: Massive data leak in New Zealand government servers
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because we're living in an alternate universe where there's no such thing as VLANs?
True, I we use a MAC Filter at work. If your MAC isn't in a whitelist, then the port get blocked. They took the file sharing a bit too seriously..
I know of one software shop locally where the dev and build machines are on a complete network island. No external access at all. If you need to google something you need to use a different computer connected to the public internet. A bit inconvenient, but not unworkable. Devs have a laptop or tablet for public browsing, and their actual work takes place on the "clean room" network.
Re: Massive data leak in New Zealand government servers
#19This is the main reason I'm skeptical of central government databases. Not because of the miniscule chance of them enabling a police state, but because of the very great chance that the data will not be properly safeguarded.
But but but, I thought building a central health-care database is such a brilliant idea and saves so much money!11
The health data base is very well protected from what I know. And access is strictly monitored. If patient notes are viewed by someone who does not need to view them, they face harsh discipline. I recall a case from when I used this database a long time ago. In terms of high profile issues with it, the current eel-in-arse story is going to result in action and this is being done via the systems user tracking.
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objec...
Edited for spelling
Re: Massive data leak in New Zealand government servers
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
True, I we use a MAC Filter at work. If your MAC isn't in a whitelist, then the port get blocked. They took the file sharing a bit too seriously..
I know of one software shop locally where the dev and build machines are on a complete network island. No external access at all. If you need to google something you need to use a different computer connected to the public internet. A bit inconvenient, but not unworkable. Devs have a laptop or tablet for public browsing, and their actual work takes place on the "clean room" network.
We have a handful[1] of secure machines that are allowed to SSH into production systems. No development or other Internet activity takes place on those boxes.
[1] A handful because many of us are remote. Mine is a EeePC.