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Beaudoin
New Member
Canada
75 Posts |
 Posted - 11 February 2004 : 09:52:25
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Hi Everyone.
I'm the Web Designer for the Canadian Army and I was using Snits Forums 2000 (3.4) for our Discussion Forum.
Recently, the network administrators decided that Snitz may not be the most secure software out there because they think that, since Snitz is Freeware, it could not be as secure as other off-the-shelf forum software. They have forced me to take my Discussion Forum offline until I can make a case that Snitz is as secure as anything else. Personally, I absolutely love the Snitz software, and I'm eager to get it back up.
So, my questions are:
- Is Snitz as secure as any other off-the-shelf software out there? If so, can you tell me why?
- Are there any other off-the-shelf software packages out there that run on an ASP system similar to Snitz? If so, how do they compare?
- What is the status of Snitz 4.0, and it is multilingual?
If you point me in the right direction, I'll certainly do the research myself, but I have no idea where to start. Google searches are useless, because I end up getting other peoples discussion forums, rather than the sites of potential software companies.
Some things to note: Any forum software that I choose MUST be available in both French and in English (Canadian government rules), and I cannot use any discussion forum software that is programmed in PHP.
Thank you so much in advance!
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Jason Beaudoin
Army Web Designer
Canadian Army
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HuwR
Forum Admin
United Kingdom
20600 Posts |
Posted - 11 February 2004 : 10:17:43
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perhaps you should ask your network administrators why they think it is not secure.
by the way, Snitz is only available in english |
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HuwR
Forum Admin
United Kingdom
20600 Posts |
Posted - 11 February 2004 : 10:22:45
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Oh and another thing, the fact that it is freeware has abasolutely nothing to do with how secure or unsecure a piece of software is, ask them how secure their OS is.
it is freeware because we give it away. |
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ruirib
Snitz Forums Admin
Portugal
26364 Posts |
Posted - 11 February 2004 : 11:42:44
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There are moded versions of Snitz available in multiple languages. Of course, those are not official versions.
An interesting question to your network administrators is this one: linux is free, do they think that classifies the OS as not being secure?
Anyway, I don't think there is a way to prove some software to be secure, in absolute terms (again, look at what happens with MS OSes and with Linux OSes as well). Some software you may think is secure may have still undiscovered vulnerabilities.
Snitz has changed in some respects regarding security in the latest versions, and 3.4.04 seems to be secure, as of now. Thousands of users use it and we have no knowledge of security issues with it.
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Snitz 3.4 Readme | Like the support? Support Snitz too |
Edited by - ruirib on 11 February 2004 11:46:50 |
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Beaudoin
New Member
Canada
75 Posts |
Posted - 11 February 2004 : 15:21:25
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Thanks for the replies!
I agree with the both of you when it comes to security. Nothing is 100%. I'm fighting tenaciously to keep this software running. I really like it. So far, I have half of them convinced that it's as secure as anything else.
Ruirib: Do you know where I can get a moded version of Snitz 3.4xx in French? This will go a long way in helping me with keeping Snitz as the Canadian Army's Discussion Forum software. |
Jason Beaudoin
Army Web Designer
Canadian Army
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OneWayMule
Dev. Team Member & Support Moderator
Austria
4969 Posts |
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Beaudoin
New Member
Canada
75 Posts |
Posted - 11 February 2004 : 15:29:52
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Thank you OneWayMule! That's awesome!
I'm going to stake my case for Snitz! I think I can convince them that this is the way to go. |
Jason Beaudoin
Army Web Designer
Canadian Army
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laser
Advanced Member
Australia
3859 Posts |
Posted - 11 February 2004 : 16:03:42
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| Being more "open source" actually increases the security within the code. Why ? Because you have a LOT more people looking at the code and finding problems with it. The end-result is a lot more polished product. |
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zeth
Junior Member
United Kingdom
117 Posts |
Posted - 11 February 2004 : 17:38:50
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quote:
Originally posted by ruirib
An interesting question to your network administrators is this one: linux is free, do they think that classifies the OS as not being secure?
Internet Explorer is free to download also, and like most things security depends on the user. Snitz can be very secure if you follow the basic instructions, for example not putting an access database in a public folder! Indeed the security of your database folder depends mostly on your host.
Using the latest version or adding the fixes would be helpful too, not to mention being careful how you implement your MODs. Also turning off HTML in posts and so on.
Most of the 'paid for' forum systems that I have come across are in some way derivative of free ones in some way, and new features in one Forum system tend to be soon reversed engineered and then replicated in the rest.
If anyone can correct or fill in the gaps then please do. Does anyone have experience of using a forum in a high security environment (and by that I don’t mean a mental hospital!). Do let us know what system your superiors plump for in end, if that is not top secret!!! |
THEOLOGY.ME.UK CROSSRING.COM |
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Beaudoin
New Member
Canada
75 Posts |
Posted - 12 February 2004 : 12:08:25
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| I'm still wondering if there is an off-the-shelf product that runs on ASP technology that I can compare Snitz to. That would go a LONG way in helping me justify using Snitz. Any help on this issue would be appreciated. |
Jason Beaudoin
Army Web Designer
Canadian Army
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HuwR
Forum Admin
United Kingdom
20600 Posts |
Posted - 12 February 2004 : 12:42:42
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I think you will find Snitz is the best ASP based forum there is, that is why we are here. 
Just tell your network techs to search google for any known vulnerabilities in Snitz, they will find there are NONE, and infact there have been no reports of any since June last year, they were for the previous version. If your techs know any different, then perhaps they would like to demonstrate these problems to us so that we can fix them. |
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Beaudoin
New Member
Canada
75 Posts |
Posted - 12 February 2004 : 12:59:00
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I believe you HuwR. :) Totally.
I just need to compare them. |
Jason Beaudoin
Army Web Designer
Canadian Army
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HuwR
Forum Admin
United Kingdom
20600 Posts |
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Beaudoin
New Member
Canada
75 Posts |
Posted - 12 February 2004 : 13:56:32
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| Thanks! |
Jason Beaudoin
Army Web Designer
Canadian Army
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Gremlin
General Help Moderator
New Zealand
7528 Posts |
Posted - 13 February 2004 : 20:52:48
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| Take a look here for some others http://www.aspin.com/home/webapps/bbs theres not too many "paid" ASP Forums out there that I know of either, but the above link gives you a good list of forums anyway that you may find some other commercial ones in. |
Kiwihosting.Net - The Forum Hosting Specialists
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Edited by - Gremlin on 13 February 2004 20:54:16 |
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Tarantulas
Starting Member
USA
10 Posts |
Posted - 20 February 2004 : 13:32:33
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Maybe this will help. It's an evaluation I did to convince my company that Snitz is the best:
http://www.tarantulas.net/forum_evaluation/topsix.htm
If you look at the "available here" link at the top you can see the other forum software I evaluated. We're running Windows 2000 Server, so the Linux and UNIX forums weren't an option.
My company had a problem with the freeware concept for a while too. The concern was that if you don't pay for it, how can you ensure you get support? When I showed them that everyone has the same type of support - a support forum, and maybe email - the concern went away.
As soon as I proposed using Snitz Forums, the Data Security folks came back with a page from securityfocus.com showing some "vulnerabilities." When I showed them that those problems had been fixed the same day they were listed, their concerns went away too.
Anyone who wants to use my evaluation is free to do so. |
"Evil triumphs when good men do nothing"
Current Homeland Security Advisory System Threat Level:  |
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