No firewall?!

The good news about the recent Zotob computer worm outbreak is that the damage done to companies by the malicious code was limited compared to other recent attacks since it hit only computers with older Windows 2000 operating systems. (It still got some pretty big companies, including ABC, where I heard that the newswriters used typewriters to get a show out while their computers were disabled.)

What jumped out at me from the story, though was this little nugget: "A full 26 percent of Zotob victims [said] that infections occurred because they had no firewall in place." Can that be? Can someone really run a business or a computer without at least clicking Yes for the security options or putting their stuff through a $29 router with a minimal amount of protection? (OK, I confess: The first time I connected to the Internet on my new DSL, I immediately got a virus. And I'll probably get one again. But still.)

Friends don't let friends do business on a computer network without a firewall.