Protecting
Our Families with the Lord's Security Methods, Part 3:
A House of Order
by John P. Pratt
A
House of Order
The
Lord uses another level of security which at first blush does not
appear even related to security. The Lord has said,
"You
have not taught your children light and truth, according to the
commandments; and that wicked one hath power, as yet, over you,
and this is the cause of your affliction.
"And
now a commandment I give unto you--if you will be delivered you
shall set in order your own house, for there are many things that
are not right in your house." (D.&C. 93:42-43)
The Lord himself
follows the commandment to have his house in order:
"Behold,
mine house is a house of order, saith the Lord God, and not a house
of confusion." (D.&C. 132:8)
Note that the
Lord said "if you will be delivered, you shall set in order your
own house. . ." That makes it sound as if having an orderly house
can help one to be "delivered" from the power of the "wicked one".
But what does an orderly house have to do with security? To answer
this, let us again see what we can learn from the field of computer
science about the security of computers against attack from computer
viruses and worms. Indeed, that is not just a theoretical discussion
because such viruses are another kind of real threat to our computers,
including our genealogical records.
Computers.
If you use e-mail, you almost certainly have received a virus at
sometime which had the potential of destroying not only your hard
disk, but perhaps that of some of your best friends to whom your
computer forwarded the virus without your knowledge. How are such
deadly viruses possible? Computer viruses are so named because they
are so similar to viruses in nature. They are programs which are
transmitted to a host on which they run, and then propagate their
damage. But it turns out that some computer operating systems are
much less vulnerable to viruses than others, and it has to do with
having their "house in order." Let us see if we can learn any principles
from computer science which could be applied in our homes.
Windows
vs. Linux
Let us now consider two different computer systems and how they
handle security issues, to learn what we might be able to apply
to our own homes. The Windows operating system is based on DOS.
When Bill Gates originally purchased DOS to put on the IBM PC, it
had been previously called "QDOS", which stood for "Quick and Dirty
Operating System". It was written just to be exactly that, a little
operating system to allow file management on a small system. Very
little thought had been given to security issues. Anyone with a
knowledge of the commands could have access to any files on the
machine and have free rein to do as desired, including malicious
assaults. Nearly all the worms and viruses rampant today attack
the Windows operating system.
In contrast,
another operating system was also being developed at Bell Labs to
be used for large user groups at universities. It was called UNIX,
and it had security designed into it from the very beginning. It
is now available for home PC's in a version called Linux. Computers
which run Linux are virtually virus free, whereas those with Windows
have to fight viruses daily. The reason is not just that those who
write viruses attack the most popular platform, because more web
pages are served by UNIX or Linux servers than all others combined.
The reason for the lack of Linux viruses is that it is very difficult
to write a virus for Linux because of its innate security system.
It seems worth a few paragraphs to describe it, because we can immediate
see similarities in how the Lord uses similar principles in the
Priesthood and in nature. We can apply similar principles in the
home.
In the Linux
operating system there are several basic principles. First there
is a master user, (or "super-user") of the system. This is like
the father or mother of a family. This user knows the password needed
to create, access, change or delete any file in the system. This
is similar to a parent having the right to access any part of the
home (by key if necessary), including even children's rooms to check
for pornography or drugs, if needed. The master user can create
other users of the system, each of which has his own password, which
is known to the master user. These users can constitute a "group",
analogous to a family.
Every file
in the system is "owned" by one of the users. That is an extremely
important concept in itself. Does everything in your home have a
"steward", who is its official caretaker? Or are there many things
which no one cares for? Both families and computer groups want to
share their resources, so how can that best be accomplished if everything
has an owner?
In Linux, there
are three levels of users defined for every file, and three levels
of permission for it. The three levels of users are 1) the owner
of the file, 2) others in his group, and 3) everyone else. The three
permissions given to those three kinds of users are the ability
to 1) know it exists, 2) to use it, and 3) to change or even delete
it.
Again, such
a system could be employed in a home. The steward of any item could
set the permissions for others to use it. Some things could be freely
borrowed with permission, others borrowed without needing to ask,
and still others might be kept from others even knowing of their
existence (such as firearms). But it could really become complicated
if everything in the home had to have a tag on it with permissions
explicitly defined. But the creators of UNIX thought of that too.
There are certain
large directories with permissions set for all the files in that
area. There is an area where all the core programs that run the
operating system are kept, and only the master user has permission
even to know what is in that area. That would be like a locked safe
in that family, and in fact it appears as a folder with a lock on
it to other users in Linux. Each user has an area which is his private
area, like each child in a family having his own room. Everything
in that area belongs to that user, just as everything in a child's
room could be understood to be his unless otherwise marked. There
are also shared areas on the computer where everyone in the group
has permission to know about and to use the files, but not to modify
them. That would be like a family room where everyone can use the
library there, but not mark up nor destroy the books. Again, everything
in the family room, kitchen or other public area, could be understood
to be useable by any family member, even though one of the parents
would probably be the official steward.
So the reason
that viruses are virtually non-existent on Linux is that even if
a user gets an e-mail with a virus attached, that user would have
to be logged in as the master user to have permission to allow that
virus to do its damage. The only viruses which exist on Linux have
been written and published as examples to show it is possible, but
even they can only be executed with permission of the master user.
Hence, the system is inherently much more secure than other systems.
The Lord also
uses a system of granting different levels of users different permissions
to know about, read, or understand his teachings. For example, certain
sacred ceremonies are so sacred that they were no even included
in the scriptures, but were available only to certain initiates
after the Resurrection of Christ. Other teachings were made publicly
available, but the key to understanding them was reserved for only
a few. That was the case with the Savior's parables. While the general
listener could gain something from the story, only those with "ears
to hear" were given the key to the real meaning either from the
Holy Ghost or from the Savior explaining them personally (see Mat.
13:10-13). The Lord gave scriptures to be read publicly, but not
to be changed (Deut. 4:2, Rev. 22:19).
Thus, our families
could perhaps be more secure if we maintain a house of order. Besides
having permissions to use things, and a steward to care for them,
simply having things in order can be a great asset. As a scoutmaster
I learned that "the only thing worse than being unprepared is being
prepared and not knowing it." That is, if you need a first aid kit
and can't find it, then it does no good. And it is especially demoralizing
to find that you did indeed have it all the time, but had misplaced
it.
Priesthood
Keys
The Lord employs a system with different levels of "users" in the
priesthood. First, a man must prove himself worthy even to receive
the priesthood at all, for it is the power to act in the name of
God. Initially, a priesthood holder has the power to "use" the priesthood,
but not to govern it. That is very much like one of the user permission
levels of Linux. Later, if he is called to preside over a priesthood
quorum, he is given the keys of presiding, meaning that he can control
to some extent what duties other members of his quorum will exercise.
A priest has the authority to baptize, but may only perform a valid
baptism with the premission of the bishop of the area, who holds
the keys. This arrangement not only keeps everything in order, it
also acts as a security check against an errant priesthood holder
performing unauthorized acts.
And just as
with a super-user in the UNIX system, if someone is high ranking
in the Priesthood and misuses authority, truly tragic consequences
can result. An example would be when Thomas B. Marsh, president
of the quorum of Twelve Apostles, lied about the activities of the
Church to the governor of Missouri. His false testimony led to the
Extermination Proclamation which resulted in the deaths of many
innocent Church members. A similar example during the Savior's ministry
was Judas. One of the Savior's trusted apostles went to the dark
side and betrayed his master.
So there are
many principles we can learn both from the Lord's creatures and
from his Priesthood order, as well as from computer science, about
how to improve the security in our homes and in our nation. The
first great lesson is to learn from intelligence, especially from
the prophet, just what the plans of the adversary are. Then we can
build various sorts of protective shields, and finally, keep our
homes in order so that we are prepared for what is to come.
By building
on the example which the Lord has shown us, we can build our own
fortress of righteousness and withstand all the fiery darts of the
adversary. We can become like the City of Enoch which was a bastion
of strength in the midst of a vast society which was heading toward
being destroyed in the Great Deluge. Indeed we can build a New Jerusalem,
of which it will be said:
And
it shall be called the New Jerusalem, a land of peace, a city of
refuge, a place of safety for the saints of the Most High God;
And
the glory of the Lord shall be there, and the terror of the Lord
also shall be there, insomuch that the wicked will not come unto
it, and it shall be called Zion. . . .
And it shall
be said among the wicked: Let us not go up to battle against Zion,
for the inhabitants of Zion are terrible; wherefore we cannot
stand. (D.&C. 45:66-67, 70)
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