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Just disconnect the internet

>>> 2024-07-31 just disconnect the internet (PDF) So, let's say that a security vendor, we'll call them ClownStrike, accidentally takes down most of their Windows install base with a poorly tested content update. Rough day at the office, huh? There are lots of things you could say about this, lots of reasons it happens this way, lots of people to blame and not to blame, etc., etc., but nearly every time a major security incident like this hits the news, you see a lot of people repeating an old refrain: these systems shouldn't be connected to the internet.

The largest problem by far is that almost everyone who develops software assumes that their product will not need to operate in an offline environment, and if they find out that it does they will fix that with duct tape and shell scripts because it only matters for a small portion of their customers. Even the weaker forms tend to be limited to highly-regulated industries (finance and healthcare are the big ones), although you see the occasional random software company that just takes security really seriously and keeps things locked down. In practice, an internal CrowdStrike update mirror would probably lag days, weeks, months, or years behind, because that's what usually ends up happening in "hard" offline environments, but that's a case of two wrongs making a right.

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