“While Microsoft talked up Windows Vista security at Black Hat, a researcher in another room demonstrated how to hack the operating system,” Joris Evers reports for CNET News.com.
“Evers reportsJoanna Rutkowska, a Polish researcher at Singapore-based Coseinc, showed that it is possible to bypass security measures in Vista that should prevent unsigned code from running,” Evers reports. “And in a second part of her talk, Rutkowska explained how it is possible to use virtualization technology to make malicious code undetectable, in the same way a rootkit does. She code-named this malicious software Blue Pill.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: If you’re a Windows-only PC user who stumbled here by accident, forget about the Blue Pill. It’s time to pop a Red Pill, put your PC box up for sale on eBay, and Get a Mac. Life’s way too short and, believe it or not, you don’t need Microsoft for anything.
Related articles:
Ballmer analyzes Microsoft’s One Big Mistake, Vista… er, ‘One Big’ Vista Mistake – August 02, 2006
Symantec details more security holes in Microsoft’s Windows Vista – July 26, 2006
Symantec researcher: At this time, there are no file-infecting viruses that can infect Mac OS X – July 13, 2006
Sophos: Apple Mac OS X’s security record unscathed; Windows Vista malware just a matter of time – July 07, 2006
Sophos Security: Dump Windows, Get a Mac – July 05, 2006
What Microsoft has chopped from Windows Vista, and when – June 27, 2006
Security company Sophos: Apple Mac the best route for security for the masses – December 06, 2005
Apple: ‘Get a Mac. Say ‘Buh-Bye’ to viruses’ – June 01, 2006
Apple Macs and viruses: Fact vs. FUD – May 26, 2006
‘Mac security’ garbage reports continue to proliferate – May 10, 2006
ZDNet: Reduce OS X security threats – ignore security software – May 05, 2006
Unix expert: Mac OS X much more secure than Windows; recent Mac OS X security stories are media hype – May 03, 2006
Macs and viruses: the true story – May 02, 2006
Anti-Mac FUD machine shifts into overdrive – May 01, 2006
FUD Alert: Viruses don’t catch up to the Mac – May 01, 2006
BusinessWeek: Apple should hire security czar to combat uninformed media FUD – March 09, 2006
Spate of recent Mac security stories signal that Microsoft, others getting nervous – March 06, 2006
Mafiasoft: Microsoft to charge $50 per year for security service to protect Windows – February 07, 2006
Computer columnist: anti-virus software purely optional for Apple Macs, not so for Windows – November 01, 2005
Hackers already targeting viruses for Microsoft’s Windows Vista – August 04, 2005
16-percent of computer users are unaffected by viruses, malware because they use Apple Macs – June 15, 2005
Good thing MS didn’t offer a reward to the first Beta Hacker.
hahaha
Isn’t Viagra a blue pill. So, this time the blue pill makes something go down!
correction, you need microsoft, to look good next to :p
Hey Drunk Cheney, maybe they can do like what Apple did for iTMS customers. Every millionth successful hacker of Vista gets something for free. Oh wait, it’s a virus!
All I know is I just got done working with the symantic tech for a freaking hour !!!!!!!!!!!!!! trying to get my parents internet to work on their Dell. Sigh now I am back on my PB, so nice to be back on OSX tiger. I can’t wait to try out TM and spaces!!!!!!!!
Outstanding! THIS is what Microsoft is all about! FInding and purging the problems BEFORE they reach their customers.
Not like LaughApple which issues security update after security update through their crappy Software Update panel.
VISTA will absolutely CRUSH Deaf Leopard. Whenever it finally ships. And if Convict Jobs isn’t in jail by then.
Sell your AAPL stock now!
Would you rather be bill gates or that ghetto looking apple idiot that introduced xserve today at mac show?
Pretty hilarious when MS’s “trustworthy” OS gets hacked by a Polock.
“But wait”, you Win fanboys say, “the release version will be sooo much more secure!”. Yeah right. MS isn’t going to get holes this big fixed six months before release (or whatever the current slip date is).
Wait until the PlayStation Generation hackers get ahold of Vista. They’ll make XP look secure.
That’s the naming convention I want on my partitions when I finally get a Macintel with Boot Camp:
Red Pill = Mac
Blue Pill = Windows
Retard.
^ definitely not the hunched over geek that bill gates is…
MacSuck,
When you said whenever it “finally” ships did you mean Leopard or Vista? Been waiting 5 years for Vista here, only 1 year for Leopard.
And what do you mean by security update after security update?
Haven’t you heard of update Tuesday? Microsoft has so many security updates they need a special day to release them all.
You’re good bait though…but I suspect just jail bait…lol! You gotta be what, 12…15 years old?
“Sell your AAPL stock now” – funny! Let’s see, my AAPL stock has made me a ton of money over the past few years. If I had an equal investment in, let’s say…Microsoft or …Dell, I would have a lot less to show for it. Your obviously uneducated bias against Apple products shows in your investment advice. I’d be wise to take no advice from you at all – technical or financial.
Outstanding! THIS is what Microsoft is all about! FInding and purging the problems BEFORE they reach their customers.
You must credit Al Gore for the Internet too.
Since when did MS change their business model of nearly 30 years? You know, “Make a lousy knock-off, sell it, fix a few bugs, resell it, and repeat”.
Also notice that Joanna Rutkowska, the problem’s discoverer, isn’t from Microsoft.
Your view is like an auto maker being proud that a government agency found serious safety defects in a new vehicle. I don’t care if the vehicle isn’t shipping to consumers yet, it reflects very poorly that the problems existed at all.
Anyway keep waiting for your Vista dream. The rest of us have Mac.
If Steve Jobs is going to gaol for discrepancies that Apple itself detected, had independently investigated and voluntarily reported to the authorities for further action, then I look forward to seeing the upper echelons of Microsoft at the gallows for their actual crimes.
Then again, I guess a U.S. justice system is an oxymoron. Just ask David Hicks. http://www.fairgofordavid.org/
MacSuck® doesn’t actually have a PC of his own, you know. I know him: the one he’s using is his DAD’s. He doesn’t even have broadband, so he’s never actually updated his family’s copy of XP. He’s still running SP1 and–therefore–can’t stay online very long before the MASSIVE malware attacks begin. It’s no wonder he thinks XP is superior to OS X: he’s never actually SEEN an update, so it MUST be perfect!
You really might want to feel sorry for him, comrades. He’s so green with envy he looks like a booger (his regular evening meal).
Just out of curiosity –
Hands up – How many Mac folks here visit PC/Vista sites and leave negative remarks?
I don’t wast my time on a PC sites. Don’t give a crap about them.
Not making any judgment here if you do.
Vista is better…..
“Would you rather be bill gates or that ghetto looking apple idiot that introduced xserve today at mac show?”
Reply,
Have you ever looked at Bill Gates? If it was not for his money, that guy would be the ultimate nerd geek.
Yes, between Bill Gates and Steve Jobs- If I had two choice to look like-it would be Steve Jobs.
At least he looks like part of the entertainment industry and not the lost college nerd fighting for a dream of getting a girl with the pocket protector.
And might I ask did Bill Gates asked to copy their interface to make Windows?
Yes, oh yes… Steve Jobs looks like Leopard and Bill Gates like Windows XP-Violated!
Deaf Leopard? LOL! That’s hysterical considering voice recognition actually works in Leopard. Meanwhile, Vista is already showing it’s violent side with such wisdom as “so double the killer delete select all.” That double delete makes killer sense.
Select a Mac and OS X or you might get hurt.
Hey, MacSuck®
You are f-ing funny dude.
Where do you do your show? Do you write your own material?
“Outstanding! THIS is what Microsoft is all about! FInding and purging the problems BEFORE they reach their customers.
That’s a great line. Just like they did for 95, 2000, ME, XP and now Vista.
Oh the irony. You are a genius.
I just can’t stop laughing.
“Isn’t Viagra a blue pill?”
Yes, for those of you with a Micro Soft
“Blue Pill” is possibly a hoax:
http://weblog.infoworld.com/yager/archives/2006/06/blue_pill_is_an.html
Macsuck:
Firstly, Microsoft didn’t discover these vulnerabilities, some other folks did. You should at least give credit where credit is due.
Secondly, how long will you have to wait before Microsoft can develop a cure for its own disease?
MacSuck® = worst attempt at a troll in the last month.
Wait. Is this the same Black Hat conference where they hacked the MacBook’s wireless driver in under 60 seconds? And didn’t that happen FIRST?? And that wasn’t even a pre-release version of OSX either, was it?
It’d be interesting to see what the Black Hatters would do to Leopard at this point, seeing as it can’t even function for an entire presentation without crashing.