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Microsoft's Internet Driving Licence: stupid, unworkable and unenforceable
,----[ Quote ]
| Mundie also compared computer users on the
| net to car drivers: âIf you want to drive a
| car you have to have a licence to say that
| you are capable of driving a car, the car
| has to pass a test to say it is fit to drive
| and you have to have insuranceâ. Actually,
| he is right. Most of them are technically
| illiterate but if the only people who were
| allowed to drive were also qualified car
| mechanics then most drivers would be off the
| road. What next? Not allowed to switch on
| your TV without being a qualified
| electronics engineer? The point has been
| made before: if people were properly trained
| in the use of computers they wouldnât
| knowingly touch the Microsoft OS with the
| proverbial disinfected barge pole. Theyâd be
| using GNU/Linux. Instead, at the same
| economic forum at Davos, Andre Kudelski of
| the Kudelski Group actually called for the
| creation of an new internet where everyone
| would be forced to own two computers: one
| for secure internet and one for freedom.
`----
http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/columns/microsofts_internet_driving_licence_stupid_unworkable_and_unenforceable
Botnet takedowns 'don't hurt crooks enough'
,----[ Quote ]
| The takedowns of the Mariposa and Waladec
| botnets last week were victories for the good
| guys, but security experts warn that although
| cybercrooks suffered a bloody nose they
| collectively retain the upper hand in their
| ongoing conflict with law enforcement and its
| security industry allies.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/03/08/botnet_takedown_analysis/
Recent:
Taxing every citizen for Microsoft Windows problems? Are we insane?
,----[ Quote ]
| Just when you think you've heard
| everything, something new arrives. Two
| years ago, we heard that half a million
| computers are infected with malicious bots
| every day (a "bot" is a software program
| that enters your computer from the Internet
| or inside infected files, then runs in the
| background to steal your data, send spam or
| wreak havoc in some other way).
|
| This is a huge problem both because we
| depend on digital data in too many ways to
| explain them here (but you may read about
| them in the Open Government Book) and
| because of environmental reasons. According
| to a McAfee report published in May 2009
| the amount of energy used every year to
| transmit, process and filter spam would be
| enough to power 2.4 million homes, with the
| same Greenhouse Gas emissions as 3.1
| million passenger cars.
|
| On March 2nd, 2010, Microsoft Corporate
| Vice President for Trustworthy Computing
| Scott Charney spoke at a computer security
| conference about this very theme, that is
| how to fight the damages caused by
| computers infected by bots (or "malware").
|
| According to the summary published on
| ComputerWorld, Mr Charney started
| correctly. He pointed out that, just as
| there are quarantine programs for people
| with infective diseases, the same thing
| should happen with people who have
| computers infected by malware but, for any
| reasons, won't fix them up as soon as
| possible: such people should not be allowed
| to go online until their computer is clean
| and safe.
`----
http://stop.zona-m.net/node/109
Microsoft's Laugh-a-Minute Show Continues
,----[ Quote ]
| Can you believe it? Microsoft's lousy
| programming has caused billions of pounds
| worth of damage to the global economy in
| terms of downtime, lost files (and probably
| blood pressure problems) and it has the
| bare-faced cheek to suggest there should be
| an âInternet usage taxâ on everyone
| (including GNU/Linux users) to pay for the
| rectification of its mistakes? No wonder
| Scott Charney has the humorous and
| manifestly self-contradictory title of
| âMicrosoft Corporate Vice President for
| Trustworthy Computingâ....
`----
http://www.computerworlduk.com/community/blogs/index.cfm?entryid=2824&blogid=14
Windows Security Gets Boost from ClamAV
,----[ Quote ]
| The open source ClamAV project is often
| used on servers as a way to scan and secure
| e-mail gateways and Windows file shares.
| Now ClamAV is coming to the Windows desktop
| too, by way of the cloud.
`----
http://www.esecurityplanet.com/features/article.php/3868596/Windows-Security-Gets-Boost-from-ClamAV.htm
Typical Windows user patches every 5 days
,----[ Quote ]
| 75 Microsoft, third-party patch events each
| year are a burden most users can't bear,
| says Secunia
`----
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9165738/Typical_Windows_user_patches_every_5_days
Windows: New, improved & more insecure than ever
,----[ Quote ]
| Honest to God I don't go around trying to
| pick on Windows for its security problems,
| but the hackers keep finding new ways to
| break into it. And, this time, they've
| found a doozie. Berend-Jan Wever, aka
| "Skylined," a Google security software
| engineer has busted DEP (data execution
| prevention), one of the few significant
| security improvements Microsoft has made to
| Windows.
|
| DEP, which was added to Windows back in
| August 2004 in XP SP2. It addressed the
| very common hacking technique of buffer
| overflows. In a buffer overflow attack, a
| malicious program tries to overwrite the
| buffer, the amount of memory a program has
| been allocated for running its code in. By
| so doing, a buffer overflow overwrites
| memory that may or may not have been
| allocated to other programs. In either
| case, it can then use this overwritten
| memory for its own purposes. Usually this
| means running malware or even taking over
| the computer itself.
`----
http://www.itworld.com/endpoint-security/98992/windows-new-improved-more-insecure-ever
One-third of Security Essentials users infected: Microsoft
,----[ Quote ]
| Almost a third of the customers who have
| installed Microsoft's free Security
| Essentials software have been found to be
| suffering from major malware infections.
`----
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/28745/53/
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