Vista security overview: too little too late
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| So, what have we got here? An adequately secure version of Windows,
| finally? I think not. We have got, instead, a slightly more secure
| version than XP SP2. There are good features, and there are good
| ideas, but they've been implemented badly. The old problems never
| go away: too many networking services enabled by default; too
| many owners running their boxes as admins and downloading every
| bit of malware they can get their hands on. But MS has, in a
| sense, shifted the responsibility onto users: it has addressed
| numerous issues where too much was going on automatically and
| with too many privileges. But this simply means that the ownerw
| ill be the one making a mess of their Windows box.
|
| Data hygiene is still an absolute disaster on Windows. In fact,
| it's worse than it ever was in some ways, and that's very bad
| indeed. Browser traces still in the registry, heavy and
| complicated indexing to improve search, new locations where data
| is being stored. It all adds up to a privacy nightmare. Keeping
| a Vista box "clean" is going to be impossible for all but the
| most knowledgeable and fastidious users.
|
| So don't rush out to buy Vista in hopes of getting much in
| return security-wise. I do like some of the changes, at least
| in theory, or as a decent platform on which to build an
| adequately secure version of Windows one day. But that day,
| if it ever comes, will be well in the future.
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http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/20/vista_security_oversold/
Yesterday:
Microsoft can't defend Windows Vista
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| Windows Defender for Vista has failed miserably when it comes to protecting
| users of Microsoft's latest operating system from a very basic attack.
`----
http://www.zdnet.com.au/blogs/securifythis/soa/Microsoft_can_t_defend_Windows_Vista/0,139033343,339273717,00.htm
http://tinyurl.com/25hxfy
Related:
Symantec: Microsoft conflict of interest is damaging internet
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| Symantec's chief executive has lambasted Microsoft for a dangerous
| conflict of interest as both the provider of an operating system
| and seller of software designed to secure its users.
|
| [...]
|
| Thompson told RSA delegates: "You wouldn't want the company that is
| keeping your books to audit your books. The same logic should apply.
| You wouldn't want the company that created your company's operating
| platform to be the one that is securing it from a broad range of
| threats. It's a huge conflict of interest."
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http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/07/symantec_thompson_microsoft/
Windows Vista's Firewall offers false sense of security
,----[ Quote ]
| Knowing that Windows Vista's firewall is capable of outbound
| blocking, but that it wrongfully defaults to let all programs
| access the Internet when it should let none, we were looking
| for an intuitive way to correct the problem. After going into
| Windows Vista's Control Panel, the link that said "Allow a
| program through Windows Firewall" made the most sense to us.
| As a side note, we were logged in with administrator
| privileges during this test.
`----
http://content.zdnet.com/2346-10741_22-53425-1.html
Microsoft Windows: Insecure by Design
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A34978-2003Aug23?language=printer
If Only We Knew Then What We Know Now About Windows XP
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/23/AR2006092300510.html?nav=rss_technology
Why Windows is a security nightmare
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/05/21/1085120110704.html
Botnet 'pandemic' threatens to strangle the net
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| Cerf estimated that between 100 million and 150 million of the
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| 600 million PCs on the internet are under the control of hackers,
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| the BBC reports. "Despite all that, the net is still working,
| which is pretty amazing. It's pretty resilient," he said.
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http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/26/botnet_threat/
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