Re: closing unwanted ports - and what is 1720/tcp filtered H.323/Q.931

[Michael Stone <mstone@debian.org>]

On Fri, Dec 16, 2005 at 01:27:57PM +0100, Javier Fernández-Sanguino Peña wrote:
> On Thu, Dec 15, 2005 at 05:54:34PM -0500, Noah Meyerhans wrote:
> > Well, at least there's still *some* level of physical security there;
> > an attacker has to be at your user's desk to get the password.  Plus,
>
> Noah, meet binoculars:
> http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/cameras/798d/

Don't be flippant, it lowers the level of the discourse. His point was
that the password written on the paper is a completely different
category of security risk, and may be a much less serious risk
(approaching non-existence) based on the environment in question--and
that point is entirely valid. Don't make knee-jerk reactions to security
dogma like "don't write down passwords" unless you have an understanding
of the risks involved in a particular situation.

FWIW, I'd love to know how your binoculars would be effective in an
environment where the computer is facing a blank wall. 

Mike Stone