Windows XP and Vista Long Term Support Plan

[Mike Hoye]

On 2016-10-13 11:46 AM, Gervase Markham wrote:
>
> Insecure devices are a pox on the Internet, as Brian Krebs is finding
> out. One reason they are so prevalent is that people don't know they are
> doing the internet equivalent of farting in a lift (elevator). This
> won't change until people understand that a bit.
This isn't a fair burden to put on the user, even if they knew what 
steps to take next.

Haha, I _wanted_ to talk about this in terms of a home user's 
"capabilities gap" - what the military calls the gulf between having a 
plan and having the resources you need to execute on that plan, but when 
I went to look up a good example here:

https://acc.dau.mil/CommunityBrowser.aspx?id=204085

it turns out I can't show it to you, because that site has an invalid 
security certificate. So, yeah, if the largest and best-funded security 
apparatus in the world can't reliably get basic, table-stakes-infosec 
stuff like certs right then nontechnical users who rely on a 15-year-old 
computer they either can't afford or don't know how to upgrade have no 
shot. None.

I say we thank them for their support, tell them they can get Firefox on 
newer devices (including phones) ... maybe point them to a decent 
antivirus if they don't already have one? I just don't think trying to 
frighten people into doing something they likely can't do will help.



- mhoye