[GEM Development] OT: Completed research paper on cyber warfare

[Davey Brain]

Shane M. Coughlan wrote thusly:
<snip>

> Anyway, on the conclusions I came to with my paper is that governments and
> military are likely to continue to choose certain systems like DOS because
> of the relatively high degree of protection they offer from attack.  Unix
> and DOS have high utility and are proven over a very long period.  Newer
> Windows technology may run Amazon or whatever, but it's not really at the
> grade needed for infrastructure.  It's just beginning to arrive there.  And
> it's pretty useless for the vast number of nations running older computer
> equipment.  A 386 is not pretty, but it may be part of the reason your TV
> works and your toaster switches on.  Indeed, 386 chips were being used in
> part of the computer system for the F16 during the period 93/94.  Those
> computers are unlikely to have been updated to any substantial degree since
> then.

I (and others) use OS/2 for the same reason, as do some servers (even 
online with Apache/2). I have McAfee Viruscan for OS/2 for piece of 
mind, but there has never been a documented OS/2 specific virus 
(although a boot-sector virus can attack any computer, and with MDOS & 
WinOS2 we are somewhat vulnerable to DOS/Win16 viruses (that won't 
affect OS/2 in any way).  The cool thing about using a system that not 
many people use is that there is little reason to attack it. Script 
kiddies get in, look around, see OS/2 and say "Why bother?" as they 
leave.  It works.

> So.  Well.  I guess my point is that people tend to use software that works,
> and in infrastructure and non-commercial mission critical that tends to mean
> small, light and proven.  FreeDOS has a future for this reason.

OS/2 isn't small & light compared to DOS (or even Win16) but is compared 
to Win32. It runs on a 386 with 4 megs RAM, although 6-8 megs is a more 
realistic minimum on RAM. Probably the best version for older hardware 
is Warp 3, it is smaller & lighter than V2.X without the bells, whistles 
and eye-candy of Warp 4-eCS. FreeDOS does have a future here, as it 
basically runs on anything.

> If you would like to read my dissertation (which is about defining cyber
> warfare and has a couple of typos), you can view it at
> http://www.shaneland.co.uk/ewar

I will read this when I get the time...as I'm always saying.  Still need 
36 hour days.

> Regards
> 
> Shane

Sincerely,
-- 
Davey Brain
dsbrain at NOSPAM!neosplice.com or
dsbrain2001 at yahoo.NOSPAM!com

"Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth" - John F. 
Kennedy

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