Re: [SLUG] [Fwd: Continental Airlines management]

From: Thomas A. Ufer (tufer@tampabay.rr.com)
Date: Wed Jun 11 2003 - 23:11:13 EDT


Here is my e-mail to Continental:

Mr. Bethune,

Please read the following remarks made by your employee, Nathan Hanks.

>Microsoft Launches New Security Certification
>June 3, 2003 (6:00 p.m. EST)
>By Barbara Darrow, CRN
>
>Nathan Hanks, managing director at Continental Airlines, said, "All the
>guys hacking Windows are Linux guys." Continental was hit hard by SQL
>Slammer and "our CEO said we'd failed," Hanks said.
>
>"We cannot have undocumented servers that are responding to anonymous
>queries ... that allow buffer overruns," Hanks said. "CIOs need people
>in place to figure out why port 1434 is open on publicly exposed
>firewalls."
>
>Having one vendor throat to choke is helpful in crisis situations,
>Hanks said. An IT pro can't go to the CEO and say that a server is
>down, "and hopefully some guy in Amsterdam" will get to a fix when he
>gets back from the "dope house," he said.
>
>This story courtesy of CRN.

I have been using Linux at home and at work for several years. Not once
have I attempted to "hack" a Windows PC. Mr. Hanks first quote is
blatantly false and bigoted. The quote "our CEO said we'd failed" , on
the other hand is true.

CIO's don't need people in place to figure out why port 1434 is open on
publicly exposed firewalls. CIO's need people in place that will apply
software patches supplied from the vendor pro-actively, not reactively.

Mr. Hank's quote about the people of Amsterdam is so unprofessional I
cannot believe he uttered it to the media. If Mr. Hanks is a
Professional and has any sense of accountability the truthful quote
would have been: "An IT pro can't go to the CEO and say that a server is
down and hopefully the IT staff will be able to apply the software
patches that were provided to us MONTHS AGO, relatively soon."

Mr. Nathan Hanks owes the Linux Community a public apology published in
the same forum as his previous remarks. I would also consider sending
him to a refresher course in corporate ethics.

Continental Airlines has lost myself, my family and my fellow Linux
Users as customers. There are still many airlines to choose from.

Regards,

Thomas Ufer



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