Saying You're Wrong Can Feel So Right

Computerworld - I had a moment of brilliance this week, and it had to do with realizing that I had made a serious mistake. Yes, admitting you made a mistake can be considered brilliant if accompanied by the fix.

You may have read the article in which I wrote that I anticipated this particular problem ["Expecting All-in-One Security Headaches," March 20]. The state agency I work for purchased all-in-one security devices that promised to provide firewalling, intrusion prevention, virtual private networking and network monitoring. I had a gut instinct about this not being such a good idea. So why did I do it?

There were many reasons, including the following: This initiative was sponsored by the state and recommended by the state's chief security officer; the vendor of the device had a sole-source contract with the state; and the state-level IT guys were paying for and hosting the database report server. It seemed like the right move politically. Now I have some serious backtracking to do, and I don't admire myself for bending to the pressure. I should have trusted my gut.

As I said previously, I don't believe that one security device can do so many tasks. If your firewall can give you the ability to run a VPN, that's great. But don't make it responsible for intrusion prevention, spam filtering, Web content filtering and everything else you can think of. After all, you don't expect your dishwasher to wash the clothes. Why hasn't someone come up with an all-in-one cleaning appliance? Because it would be some sort of crazy contraption, running on wheels so it could maneuver around the house as it mops the floors. It would have arms to do the dusting. In the thing's belly would be a clothes washer/dryer combo, and it would feed itself the dirty dishes, wash them and send them out the other end. Can you imagine if it malfunctioned and put the dishes through a spin cycle? While I would love the ability to program my entire home to take care of itself, I realize that means programming individual devices to do very specific things.

OK, I hear you saying, "Hey, lady, we are talking about software modules, each programmed to do specific things." But I counter with, "Hey, fella, the software is only as good as the programming, and it's sitting on one device."

I know that some of the big, established companies have combined functions into one device, but we aren't talking about one of the big players. The vendor in this case is not exactly a known quantity. It may have gotten a sole-source contract for these types of security devices in the state government in one of those mutual back-scratching deals. Then the recommendation went forward from the office of the chief security officer to all the state security officers. Did I mention that the CSO no longer works for the state?