"Feeling" secure

A lot of people post about how they "feel" secure with their setup.

I think this is very important part of why/how people have different set-ups.

I'm wondering has anyone tried to break down how these feelings comes about ?

Is it that you trust the reputation of the software ?
Is it that you trust the developer ?
Is it that you think you understand how PC's become infected and that you have those vectors covered ?
Do you have an element of overlap/redundancy in your setup ?
Have you tracked detection ratings of your software ?
Was it recommended by a trusted friend ?

I think the emotional / risk aspect of security and esp PC security is something worth thinking about , and trying to figure out .

 

I think it is a direct by-product of thier level of knowledge. When you don't know anything, using an AV and FW only may do this for you. As you get into HIPS and begin to understand what a process is, how memory can be tampered, etc etc, you begin to feel a little naked with only a FW and AV. Yet, as you continue to move past that and fully comprehend most of what happens in your computer, you become less moved by these same things because you understand your threats and mitigate them in your own way. For me, that does not include hips or firewall at all, but other methods.

I see it as similar to human life. You start as a baby, all you need is a bottle and a bib. As you become an adult you begin to see you need wine,song,dance,cars,boats,atvs,house in bermuda,a wine cellar and cigars from cuba. But as you become mature you see you really only need your family,food and shelter. At each stage you 'percieve' things differently.

Sul.

 

Here's how I look at things:

1. I trust my hand, therefore I trust my clicks.

2. I don't concern myself with the trusting of applications and developers because if I am interested in an application, I do a search for it here first to get an idea of what to expect, and, if not found here, I search multiple reviews/opinions via Google before I even download the application, let alone run it.

3. I'm not about to claim I know everything about security and security programs, but I do know one thing, malicious files HAVE to execute. No matter if they execute via a stupid decision by a user, through use of scripting, whatever, it has to execute somehow or else it sits and does nothing. If I control my hand, control scripting, and use my head, it's game over for malware.

 

For me it's pretty simple. I feel "secure" about my setup, whatever it may be, because I trust myself. That's the bottom line.

 

Sully put it very nicely, comparing about the travels through life etc.

I think feeling secure is just that, a "Feeling"

If we Totally understood every line of code on our Hard Drive etc, and knew it to be 100% free of vulnerabilities/bugs/buffer overflows/defects etc, only then could be truly be confident of it. NOBODY does though, or even close, or ever will !

You can only do what you are able to, with the knowledge you have at the time. 100% security is an illusion, and Always will be. Yes even with VM type Apps etc etc !

Having said, i feel very secure but realise that nothing in life is perfect, or EVER will be, especially something really complicated like the OS + software in general.

Sleep well, and don't have nightmares lol.

 

100% security is not an illusion, it's a false statement.

100% security implies EVERYTHING. But this is too philosophical. To maintain software security, you need to make sure that code you don't wish included in your system does not install. It's all there's to it.

And of course, there's probability. If you take into account only figures with reasonable value (i.e. something like 1% or even 0.1%), then you can have complete security.

But if you're going to tell me there's a 0.000000000000013% change of X doing Y, then you should also check how often this thing is expected to occur in a lifetime of a computer/OS. For example, if you need to click a billion times to get infected, then for all practical purposes, you're 100% safe. Mathematically no, but life-wise yes. You'll die and your computer will turn to dust before you explore the full exploit phase-space.

Mrk

 

For me, it's because I think that I understand how PC's become infected and that I've got those vectors covered.