[thelist]Security hole found in Mozilla browser

[Ken Schaefer]

I don't mean to be rude, but I think you need to get a better grasp of how a
large computing environment works. Users do not have privileges to install
their own software or manage their antivirus etc. Additionally, giving users
the ability to install software patches and updates then requires us to
verify that they have actually done so (and not ignored our communications).

Users can customise their computing environments in ways that do not impact
adversely upon that environment. So they can change their wallpaper, icons,
sounds etc. However they can not install software (which may be
spyware/malware/crapware, or unlicensed, or whatever). They can not install
their own hardware (which requires drivers which may be faulty, or they may
"zap" the machine because their not careful).

Likewise, they can not opt "not" to have security patches installed (these
are installed automatically for them), and they can not choose to "not"
update their AV software (this happens automatically for them as well). And
they can't choose to "not" store their work files on their local machines
(these get stored on central servers, so that if we do need to replace their
machine, or re-Ghost it, or move them to another machine, when they logon,
everything is "automagically" restored the way they last had their machine
configured).

Cheers
Ken

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: "Heather Quinn" <hqevolt at windyhilldesign.com>
Subject: Re: [thelist]Security hole found in Mozilla browser


: Why not allow users to do their own work, via an interesting and
: well-designed Intranet news page that offers, amongst other goodies, an
: easy link to the Mozilla web updater, at those times when your staff
: think it's wise that an update be deployed, like now (i.e., avoid crying
: wolf with constant reminders to update every time an update is
: available)?  Gives users a sense of control in their own destiny, and
: over time aids in the user community education effort.  Not foolproof,
: but a soft solution, and when your staff needs to pull someone out of
: trouble, they can use the Intranet page themselves, to show the user
: what to do -- no magical hocus-pocus from the user's POV, instead the
: user gets a better understanding of his or her own responsibility as a
: PC and web user.
:
: Ken Schaefer wrote:
:
: >Anyone work in a large environment that has some tips on where I can look
: >for deployment solutions (something that we can use to push these, and
: >other, updates to users automatically)? Despite what I might appear on
this
: >list (a Microsoft booster), we've always offered Mozilla to all staff in
our
: >area as part of our standard Ghost image, however we have a devil of a
time
: >keeping it "up-to-date" (probably because we're not cognizant of the best
: >way of doing it).