On 2006-07-14, Mathew P. <Mathew@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On 2006-07-13, Ray Ingles spake thusly:
>> This isn't a flaw in Vista, any more than the existence of rootkits for
>> Linux is a flaw in Linux.
> Which would be a valid point if Windows as a platform wasn't so *easily*
> susceptible to rootkits already. This is documented fact, not assertion.
Why do people think I'm defending Windows here? I'm not. Windows does
have major security issues, ones that I don't see MS addressing
effectively (or in some cases at all). But rootkits are *not* a
Windows-specific problem.
Heck, note the name - *root*kits. These sorts of things were initially
developed for Unix systems, to hide intruders. Now people are doing
similar things for Windows. It *might* be a *bit* easier on Windows, but
that is, at most, a difference in degree, not in kind.
I dunno how I can make my point any clearer. The mere existence of
malware for a platform is not a priori evidence of the platform's
insecurity. The frequency of such malware in the wild is a more
important measure, though it has to be calibrated by the frequency of
the platform in the wild, too.
For example, I'm not aware of *any* rootkits for OpenVMS. As it
happens, OpenVMS is a pretty secure OS, but you can't conclude that just
from knowing the number of rootkits for it.
--
Sincerely,
Ray Ingles (313) 227-2317
Microsoft Windows - Live the nightmare!
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