The Boss was not amused, we think it's funny as Hell
Not really a post designed to elict big response, but this was several places around the Web today...
Reliance on Microsoft Called Risk to U.S. Security
That headline almost says it all. Ease of use is a wonderful thing, designing something so flawed that script-kiddies with little conscience and a lot of spare time can bring down servers and send millions into panic-mode is not the best of things. I seem to have read somewhere that Mac servers/workstations and Novell servers have little-to-no problem with these viruses...
"The nature of the platform that dominates every desktop everywhere is such that its dominance, coupled with its insecurity, cannot be ignored and is a matter of corporate and national policy," said Dan Geer, a security consultant and chief technology officer of @Stake, a computer security company.
But, I guess that the boys in the front office like to shell out the cash so their PC's can look like the server desktop, must be a power thing. Not sure, don't want to know.
The article is interesting and makes a good point, both about the over-reliance on a single-source provider like Microsoft and how it has become a National Security issue by default.
posted by Jo Fish on 09.25.03 at 12:12 AM
Comments:
I remember that Apple had trumpeted the fact that a unit in the Army (I think it was the Army's National Computer Security unit, whatever its title is) rusn completely on Apple servers and stand-alones, solely because they are far more secure platforms.
This was before OS X; I suspect that now that Macs are running what is basically Unix they have similar holes to patch as Microsoft systems. The thing is that Microsoft is everywhere, so that's the platform people study and crack.
But I just wanted to say that Macs are better. Nyaah, all you MS people out there.
trust me, even with the occasional kernel or app vulnerabilities, Unix has far fewer problems than M$ does. i've been a unix admin for about 22 years... and i've intentionally avoided M$ in all things. two recent ones came out regarding sendmail and openssh (Sun still hasn't patched the sendmail one, slowpokes), and RedHat fixed those within a day or two.
see my recent rant about industry complaints about DHS jumping in bed with M$ to the tune of $90 million.
i'm finally getting to play with OS X, since one of the professors just got a new G5 that i have to set up (with the 20" display... niiiiice). makes my G3 at home seem pokey. i want one :)
Any cursory study of complexity theory will show that diverse structures are robust structures and that mono cultures are very susceptable to attack. The idea that one guy was fired for stating the scientifically obvious is pretty damn ludicrous.
posted by: reydog on 09.26.03 at 02:06 PM [permalink]
