“Microsoft acknowledged a critical vulnerability Wednesday in nearly all versions of its flagship Windows operating system software, the first such design flaw to affect its latest Windows Server 2003 software,” Associated Press reports.
AP reports, “Microsoft said the vulnerability could allow hackers to seize control of a victim’s Windows computer over the Internet, stealing data, deleting files or eavesdropping on e-mails. The company urged customers to immediately apply a free software repairing patch available from Microsoft’s Web site.”
“The disclosure was unusually embarrassing for Microsoft because it demonstrated the first such serious flaw in the company’s powerful new computer server software, billed as its safest ever,” reports AP. “The software is aimed at large corporate customers and was the first product sold under a high-profile ‘Trustworthy Computing’ initiative organized last year by Microsoft founder Bill Gates.”
“At the product’s launch in late April, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer declared the new version of Windows to be a ‘breakthrough in terms of what it means, in terms of its built-in security and reliability,'” reports AP. “The flaw, discovered by researchers in western Poland, also affected Windows versions popular among home users.” Full article here.
Users interesting in migrating from Windows to Apple’s Mac OS X, billed as “The world’s most advanced operating system,” can find more information here.
well, the world is backwards…what can i say?
This is why you buy a Mac!
BWAHAHAHA
I am switching to a Windows machine, I think I am missing out on all the fun and excitement! The weekly patches and the you can trust us campaign which is so heart warming.
as my wife says to me quite often…
“nobody ever listens to me!”
Well as the article says. Dept. of Homeland Security just invested $90 Mill. in microsoft software and dell hardware. This is kinda like giving soldiers a Gore-Tex raincoat and writing on front. “Bullet Proof”.
don’t we all just feel so much safer.
Microsoft: “We make safe software….. ahem Just disconnect your computer from the internet and your data will be safe”.
How many Polacks does it take to find a Windows security flaw?
Just one. Anyone can see a piece of shit is a piece of shit no matter where they come from.
Your data is as safe on Micro$oft software as the virtue of a female intern in the Clinton Oval Office with nobody looking…
But I thought Microsoft Windows was the ciz-at’s ass!?!?
Guess I won’t sell my Mac just yet
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Holy crap! I just read the part about the $90,000,000.00 US gov contract. What-the-f*ck?!?! Who would be so stupid? Anyone smell kick-back?
Corruption at it’s finest.
thats a funny story
Call this conspiracy theory but look at the headlines over at cnet (garbage but I know a lot of people trust this site) the same time as MS gets hit here are the headlines
“Cisco warns of a serious router flaw”
“Orbitz implicates oracle in site outage”
” Dell finds Axim glitch”
This just seems funnt to me that all these companies have serious flaws on the same day that MS admits to sucking ass!!!!!
Not to mention that Apple’s results were tainted by them as well!
Just my 2 or 3 cents
Sorry on that last one, Dell and MS are in the same pocket!!!
hahahahahaha …. that’s so funny, it hurts!!
Pore that M$ FUD over me, baby! Yeah!
Of course, the US Homeland Security department just signed up with M$ for a huge contract. Nice. M$ has a ton of money, and they are going to use it to muscle organizations, companies, and the media (have you seen the bias lately?). They are using the top-down approach (getting support from the big guys, to influence the common people). Apple’s trying to compete in the same way, but I think the future depends on us, the users, and the bottom-up approach. (the little guy, in masses, using Apple and influencing others).
In the past year I’ve already gotten 3 people I know to swtich to Apple, and a few more are going to soon.
Let’s do our best, us, to help out Apple. Spread the truth.
If you go to the Yahoo news section on Apple (Under Technology) you’ll see a summary of articles on Apples latest financial announcement. Of the 3, two are chastising, and they are by AP and Reuters. (good ‘ol AP, friend of M$). The only one that says something good is the one by MacCentral.
No matter how well Apple does, so long as the powers that be are bought off by Microsoft, they’ll never say good things.
Exactly Jeff, It’s all about perception… deception… and a bunch of other negative ‘ion’ type words. Actually, as I’ve perhaps too frequently pointed out, it’s all about the Benjamin’s. As long as it’s all about $$$(the root of all evil I’m told) then you will always see the twisting of perception to facilitate deception. See latest headline here:
“Beleaguered Apple sells One-Hundred-Billionth Mac this month, but it took a month to do it, also Doomed to fail as some obscure Wintel specific utilities will STILL not run on Mac OS 9”
Homeland Security?
This is buzzing around the internet, especially the Mac chats. I am very surprised that this hasn’t hit the major news networks.
On July 15th, The US Department of Homeland Security made this announcement…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60691-2003Jul15.html
On July 16th, the Mac chats were buzzing about how this is a mistake given Microsoft’s long history of poor OS security.
Now, July 17th, this is reported about Microsoft’s latest Windows Server 2003…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4395-2003Jul17.html
and
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t460-s2137684,00.html
Are Mac users biased, or is there some fact behind the belief of Microsoft’s lack of security?
Today alone, on ZDNet (http://techupdate.zdnet.co.uk/0,,t493,00.html) there are the following articles…
Windows Media Player flaw could expose sensitive files
(Media Player is a poor attempt at combining the Mac equivalents of QuickTime and iTunes)
http://techupdate.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t493-s2137236,00.html
Disable Microsoft Messenger Service in Windows XP
(MMS is similar to Mac’s Mail, but it allows others to send you unwanted pop-up ads to your desktop, as well as running other unwanted applications. Although Macs are immune to such attachments, Mac virus programs spend 99% of their time looking for such MMS attachments so we don’t pass them on to our Microsoft-using friends.)
http://techupdate.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t493-s2137085,00.html
Microsoft’s patches: Can you trust them?
(Microsoft “patches” are very similar to Mac’s “Software Update”, but the major difference is that they are much more frequent -daily- and often security related, whereas Mac updates usually fix minor function bugs or add functionality.)
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t460-s2137650,00.html
This is the system that “our” Department of Homeland Security wants to use?!
While we’d all be a bit pleased if Apple had been chosen, and there’s a big slice of wintel-hatred, I know I’d have been pretty happy to see this go Linux of another Unix instead.
It makes no real difference to me, not being American, other than that this kind of decision does have later repurcussions outside the US.
I’m still laughing
You people are insane. The problem was fixed before anyone took advantage of the vulnerability and it was done so automatically, thanks to a unique AutoUpdate feature in Windows (no, this doesn’t exist on the Mac). This evnt shows the strength of Windows, and not a liability. You Mac fan boys are pathetic.
Paul
The point is is that this sh*t is always occurring it will never end until maybe Longhorn (aka. trusted computing)….HA! YEAH RIGHT!!!. A PC-fan-boy that posts on a Mac centric site is equal or greater than a Apple patron with a deep passion for his/her computing platform.
This definitely spells bad news for MS. How much longer before units have their fill of this deception. You either have to be really poor (try linux) or stupid to continue to trust MS with your computing using needs.
Windows’ Unique Auto-Update Feature…?
Was he being facetious? I certainly don’t trust MS to auto-update, do you?