While Linux bugs are probably less prevalent then those in Windows, there
is at least one or two significant zero-day security bugs each year that
need patched immediately.

A notable recent example: the mempodipper exploit<http://blog.zx2c4.com/749>
 (http://blog.zx2c4.com/749) that allows one to gain root access on any
2.6.39 or newer kernel that has not been patched. In my security
consulting, I've had a least a few organization fall prey to this exploit,
even though a patch was released immediately. If you haven't heard of this
exploit before now, it's probably a good indicator that automatic-security
updates may be right for you. If you don't use these, and haven't manually
applied the patch, you may even have a system that is still vulnerable.
There's a good news article
here<http://www.linuxfordevices.com/c/a/News/CVE20120056-patched/>
 (http://www.linuxfordevices.com/c/a/News/CVE20120056-patched/) on the
issue.

I agree with Cowboy's general feelings regarding automatic patching of
non-security related concerns (if it's not broken, don't fix it). And as
was stated before, weather or not your machines are directly connected to
the Internet and a number of other factors determine how big and vulnerable
a target you may be. But in many cases, I believe automatic security
patching is in an organization's best interest. As always, you make
the decision that is best suited to your needs.

Cheers,
Andy

On Fri, Feb 17, 2012 at 15:26, Cowboy <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Wednesday 15 February 2012 06:18:39 pm Andy Sayler wrote:
> > As Fred implies, you generally want to also enable automatic security
> > updates.
>
>  I would again disagree !
>
>  *nix ain't Windows !!
>
>  Generally, *nix updates are issued for some obscure partial vulnerability
>  that was able to be forced in a lab under very specific conditions
> unlikely
>  to occur in the real world.
>
>  Windows updates are not issued until after millions of machines have
>  been compromised, and problems have been reported multiple times.
>
> --
> Cowboy
>
> http://cowboy.cwf1.com
>
> Justice, n.:
>        A decision in your favor.
>
> _______________________________________________
> Rivendell-dev mailing list
> [email protected]
> http://lists.rivendellaudio.org/mailman/listinfo/rivendell-dev
>
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