Good, post on an alt account. That'll strengthen your arguement.
Accusations of sock puppetry, wow. Too bad I'm a different person.
The point is that yes people/companies are hacked all the time. So what is one more program going to change that, especially when that program could potentially solve so many problems that UO has in regards to cheaters.
So you agree about companies being hacked. Why is Punkbuster going to be any different?
Might as well just uninstall your virus/adware/spyware scanners since they put you at risk as well.
Malware scanners don't scan for the purpose of
returning information.
Hell why you're at it might as well remove Windows, given all it's security problems. So the point is that we're all at risk from being hacked daily. Adding Punkbuster or any other monitoring program is not really substantially adding further risk as people for one reason or another imply.
When not running Ubuntu, I use locked-down versions of Windows. And they're just fine. I don't need something that sends information to Punkbuster, who could easily hire a rogue employee that might sleep for months before seizing an opportunity.
Besides most "hacking" isn't what people think where it's like the movie Hackers or the Matrix. Social hacking is generally the cause. Where someone who doesn't even have to have that much computer knowledge is able to get ahold of a password or router id, etc and gains access to restricted systems and does their damage there.
If you really were an authority in this, you'd have called it by the proper name "social engineering," which falls into the second example I'd given in my previous post.
Finally I don't really care what your experience has been. I worked for the largest CC company as an Internal Consultant of Risk Management and Business Continuity Planning and before that I worked in the mortgage business with the heads of every major lender in the US.
Congratulations! Being a fifth wheel wins you a cookie, and I won't even start speculating on why you are no longer at "the largest CC company," or the nonsensical generality of "worked in" means. Look, stop being a poseur. "Don't you know who I am" -- actually "Don't you know who I
was" -- isn't going to work here when your initial tactic of blowing smoke has failed.
There are commercial and freeware programs to scan for all types of malware, used all over the world, and the software is customizable in search folders and other exclusions. We're talking billions of PCs around the world. I'm not about to trust Punkbuster with its far less widespread use, no matter the hypothetical benefits you claim it would do for UO. Even if I didn't have sensitive personal and work information, out of pure principle I wouldn't have Punkbuster on any machine I touch. You've surely heard the old adage about chains and weakest links, so you should know that a company's security is only as good as what the least trustworthy employee can do (deliberately or carelessly).
I will not invoke Godwin's Law, but you're on the precipice of "What do you have to hide?"
If your really allowed to download sensitive data to your personal computer... then yes...your IT department/management is asking for trouble. Part of my job was to monitor all the areas for clear desks and locked screens. These things, along with the ever so popular piggybacking into secured areas are usually the cause of most inflitrations. Not some well known and widely accepted monitoring programs.
So you were just a security guard. And as far as sensitive data on my computers, thankfully the world's businesses don't run on your opinion. Otherwise those of us with secure technology would be hamstrung by self-righteous ignoramuses who complain about unlocked screens
but have no problem with questionable third-party software. We understand you now.
But wait a minute. You said, "Well known and widely accepted," meaning you're talking about something
other than Punkbuster.