On Sat, Jan 25, 2020 at 05:49:04PM -0500, Michael G Workman wrote: > I have read many stories about small business owners waking up one day and > their bank accounts are empty, due to banking malware like Zeus, others are > victimized by ransomware and have to pay a fee to get their files back. > > It seems like most of the victims were using windows computers when these > attacks happened, as far as I know Zeus only works on Microsoft Windows, > not Unix or Linux. > > I was thinking of offering some refurbished older Dell Laptops for sale > with OpenBSD installed, to use specifically with online banking, $149 for > Dell Vostro 1500 with 120 GB SSD and 2 GB RAM, and $249 for Dell Latitude > e6400 with 240 GB SSD, and 8 GB of RAM, and for a an extra fee, make 240 GB > and 480 GB or 1 TB or 2 TB SSD an upgrade option for them. Since they are > laptops, they can easily be moved around and are portable and people can > even travel with them and use them while traveling for their banking > transactions. > > I was not able to get wifi to work on the Dell Vostro, but that is ok, > since wifi can be an attack vector, I think they will be more secure with > only a hardwire Lan connection. > > While it is true that some small business owners have some good IT skills > and could install OpenBSD themselves, I am thinking of it as a product for > the small business owner who has minimal IT skills. > > Someone, most likely an open source puirist, criticized this idea on IRC > but I think it is actually a really good idea for the small business owner > with minimal IT skills. > > I just wanted to know everyone's opinion of this idea? and also would I be > able to advertise my contact information on the commercial section of > OpenBSD.org for these specialty laptops? > > Thanks. > > *Michael G. Workman* > (321) 432-9295 > michael.g.work...@gmail.com
First, there is no commercial section of OpenBSD to advertise on. As far as your seemingly brilliant idea, it won't work. Try this. Put OpenBSD on a USB stick. Then try to get ANYONE to boot it on their laptop/desktop. I gave up after about 25 tries over the years. Next, try this. Give away a few laptops with OpenBSD already installed for free. Check back with these people 3 months later. You won't find a single one with OpenBSD still installed unless they just stuffed it in a closet. Nobody wants to do what is necessary for security. It's just "too hard". We will continue to see security breaches ad infinutum. That's just the way it "Just doesn't works". When I was a kid and we had some new type of food that was really tasty. I would offer a taste to my other friends who were kids too. "I don't like that!" was always the response. They refused to even taste it. I would say, but you've never ever even tried this before! "I don't care. I just don't like the way it tastes". That, sadly is the way the real world works. It's nonsense. But that's just the way it is. Good luck, hopefully you can make it work. Please don't put any serious money into it before trying my two above suggestions. -- Chris Bennett
