Microsoft Windows XP SP2 sports dangerous security hole

“Windows XP Service Pack 2 promises to raise the security bar for the sometimes beleaguered operating system. Unfortunately, one of the new features could be spoofed so that it reports misleading information about system security, or worse, lets a malicious program watch for an opportunity to do damage without being detected. The feature is the Windows Security Center, which displays the status of the key elements of your defenses: Firewall, Updates, and Antivirus. If your firewall has been disabled, or your antivirus is out of date, that news will display here. The information is stored in an internal database managed by the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) subsystem built into Windows,” PC Magazine reports. “Based on an anonymous tip, we looked into the WMI and the Windows Security Center’s use of it, and found that it may not only be a security hole, but a crater.”

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Windows-only users, had enough punishment, yet? If so, information about smoothly adding a secure Mac OS X machine to your computing arsenal can be found here.

47 Comments

  1. All is akkording to sked-yule, Ballmy. All PeeCees vill implode by ze time vee reeleese Longborn. Vee kent fail.

    You’re a genius, Wilhelm. Now tell me again, how did you get your dock to stop magnifying icons?

  2. “Hello, my name is service-pack and I’m totally f*&ck;’n useless. <crowd cheers>

    “It’s been <insert time in nanoseconds here> since my last update – but look at me, I’m still dogged by my inability to prevent myself from falling apart at the sight of that ‘genie in the bottle’ – those viruses, those worms, don’t they know what they’re doin’ to me! I can’t take it anymore.”

  3. You should all really get a life!
    Way Way Way to involved with your OS and computers. Face facts Windows OS may not
    be the best or the most secure but, they have
    a hell of lot more market share than Apple
    will ever hope to obtain. You’ve had four
    years since the release of OS X to make a dent
    in Microsofts market share. Microsoft captured
    close to 50% of the server OS market in the
    same amount of time when Win NT was first released. The whole lame ass “Switch” campaign
    really didn’t work. You didn’t see Windows users
    migrating to Mac enmass. That’s because Apple
    charges way to much for the privilege of owning
    their exaulted hardware.

    Get over it and move on!!!

  4. May I suggest tech writers stop referring to security holes in MSFT OS as “swiss cheese”. First of all, we have over a hundred different cheeses in our small country, way more than the different flavors of MSFT OS around. Most are delicious, except a few weird species, so the analogy with these distasteful OSes is poorly perceived here. Many don’t have holes.
    The “swiss cheese” everybody here refers to is Emmental, which means from the Emme valley, made in 50kg pieces. Quite large holes, by the way, and quite a good taste also. When I lived in the USA, the (made in the mid-west) “swiss cheese” I could find in delis and supermarkets had very little similitude to our Emmental. And Lorraine is part of France, Snugfig, so technically there can’t be any Lorraine swiss cheese.
    Maybe I am being pedantic here, but I would like to see a better comparison than citing our lovely dairy product in the same sentence as MSFT’s ugly bastard of a retard OS.

  5. How many more “Windows XP SP2 Is A Disaster” stories does the Mac community here need? To be clear, I’m a switcher and would NEVER go back, but really, how many more? The first two or so were funny and led me to think “wow, glad I don’t have that albatross around my neck anymore”, but now it’s becaome a daily occurance that MDN is going to feature yet ANOTHER story about this same tired subject.

    Gotta go along with macdoodle on this one: “Get over it and move on!!!”

  6. I went to a BMW dealer. Told the sales guy about my ipod and he gave me a brand new Bmw 330 ci. Thanks apple and thanks for the tip ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />

  7. Stories like these are useful for providing more ammo to convince the Windows-using lemmings that there are better alternatives out there. ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” />

    SteverB…Ballmer? Is that you? ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />

  8. You guys just don’t get it. I’m a proud owner and user of the wonderful suite of Microsoft programs…for years now.

    Vulnerabilities? What vulnerabilities? My system is operating jsut fin e. I use the splelchkr wiht no problam whenevr I ned to.

    If I wnt to downlood porn, nothin bad ever hap

    <lost connection>

  9. Sorry, had to re-boot.

    Like I was saying, my machine and software are a joy to behold.

    Yesterday, for example, I turned the machine on, and while waiting for Windows to load, I was able to mow the lawn (8 acres). Then I got down to some real business.

    I loaded IE, got a cup of coffee and went to the bathroom, and by the time I got back, it had automatically logged me into a great Russian porn site.

    How wonderful is that?! How magical!

    Each day is the same, I never know what’s going to pop up on the screen.

    I think it is the work of God.

  10. How twisted your logic is.

    Here’s a great company, MS, working round the clock, 24/7 as they say, to bring perfection to their product. Sure, they may not quite be there, but then, as a wise man once said: “It’s the journey, not the destination.”

    Yet you guys distort this effort in an obvious attempt to get people to buy products from the company that you have stock in.

    Well, I’ll let you know that I have 100% of my retirement in Microsoft stocks. I’m sure that if anything bad happens (unlikely) Bill Gates will back up my retirement with his own money.

    I’ll bet Steve Jobs can’t say the same. Jerks.

    Uh, I’ll be back shortly. Just got a message from Microsoft saying I need to download a critical update.

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