“The marketing propaganda touting Microsoft’s new Vista operating system as ‘the most secure version of Windows yet’ has done nothing to stop both white and black hat hackers from discovering Vista vulnerabilities. Unless you simply enjoy acting as an experimental Microsoft guinea pig, it’s best to wait before trying to run Windows Vista,” Dave Moore reports for The Norman Transcript.
Moore reports, “Quite disturbing were recent revelations that Microsoft’s own Live OneCare antivirus program, tailored specifically for Vista, is unable to block many well-known computer viruses. Another antivirus package from McAfee also fails to do the job. This fulfills predictions made in early 2006 by antivirus firm Symantec (maker of Norton AntiVirus) that, because of Microsoft’s failure to provide ways for antivirus programmers to fully integrate their products with Vista, many antivirus programs would have a hard time protecting Vista users. I guess that includes Microsoft, as well.”
“Russian hackers posted instructions to an underground forum describing how to implement ‘privilege escalation,’ which could bypass some Vista security measures. This hack could escalate the ‘privileges’ of a normal Vista user into that of a ‘superuser,’ allowing him to change anything he desired on the system. This would be particularly dangerous in a corporate environment where normal computer users have limited privileges, in that they cannot install programs, visit certain Web sites, etc. This threat is considered so serious that Microsoft has scrambled its ‘Security Response Center,’ which is ostensibly still trying to figure out what to do,” Moore reports.
Moore reports, “Said one very irritated and frustrated Vista early adopter, ‘I should have bought a Mac.'”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Nowadays, security guys break the Mac every single day. Every single day, they come out with a total exploit, your machine can be taken over totally. I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine. – Bill Gates, February 02, 2007, Newsweek
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Computerworld: Windows expert dumps Windows, switches to Apple’s Mac OS X – February 08, 2007
Windows sufferer spends six hours trying to ‘upgrade’ to Vista, says: ‘I should’ve bought a Mac’ – February 07, 2007
Windows Vista woes push BBC News editor to regret never having ‘defected’ to Apple Mac – February 06, 2007
Bill Gates unhinged with Apple envy; Microsoft on path to become high profile casualty – February 06, 2007
Apple takes dead aim at Microsoft’s Windows Vista in latest ‘Get a Mac’ ad (with video) – February 06, 2007
Digit: Don’t buy Vista; Microsoft may be driving millions to stick with XP or move to Apple Mac – February 05, 2007
Bill Gates has lost his mind: calls Apple liars, copiers; slams Mac OS X security vs. Windows – February 02, 2007
TIME Magazine: Microsoft’s Windows Vista ‘an embarassment to the good name of American innovation’ – February 02, 2007
Microsoft’s Windows Vista: Five years for a chrome-plated turd – January 30, 2007
Those unfamiliar with Apple’s Mac OS X may be impressed with Windows Vista – January 29, 2007
Digit: ‘Microsoft’s Windows Vista may be the best reason yet to buy an Apple Mac’ – January 29, 2007
Pioneer Press: Windows Vista shows ‘Apple is an innovation engine; Microsoft, not so much’ – January 29, 2007
Windows Vista disappoints, so get a Mac – January 29, 2007
Microsoft emails reveal serious Mac OS X Tiger envy – January 26, 2007
Analyst: Microsoft’s Windows Vista could be an opportunity for Apple – January 26, 2007
CNET Reviews Windows Vista: Is that all? Clunky and not very intuitive vs. Mac OS X; warmed-over XP – January 24, 2007
Mossberg: Microsoft’s Windows Vista offers lesser imitations of Apple’s Mac OS X features – January 18, 2007
Windows Vista disappointment drives longtime ‘Microsoft apologist’ to Apple’s Mac OS X – January 17, 2007
InformationWeek Review: Apple’s Mac OS X shines in comparison with Microsoft’s Windows Vista – January 06, 2007
NY Times’ Pogue reviews Microsoft’s Windows Vista: ‘Looks, Locks, Lacks’ – December 14, 2006
Unlike Microsoft’s Windows Vista, Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard will create no new jobs – December 12, 2006
15-year Windows vet tries Apple Mac: ‘My God! This is amazing!’ – December 04, 2006
Dave Winer: ‘Microsoft isn’t an innovator, and never was – they are always playing catch-up’ – December 01, 2006
Harvard Medical School CIO picks Mac OS X over Linux and Windows – November 30, 2006
Apple Macs can run more software than Windows PCs – October 30, 2006
Microsoft’s Windows Vista is basically Microsoft’s version of Mac OS 9.3 – October 11, 2006
Top Windows developer dumps Microsoft’s ‘pile of crap’ for Apple’s Mac OS X – September 12, 2006
$399 for Windows Vista Ultimate?! (Hint: Get a Mac) – August 29, 2006
Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard is 64-bit done right, unlike Microsoft’s Windows Vista kludge – August 14, 2006
Microsoft Windows Vista: If you can’t innovate… try to impersonate Apple’s Mac OS X – August 10, 2006
Analyst: Apple’s new Mac OS X Leopard sets new bar, leaves Microsoft’s Vista in the dust – August 08, 2006
Microsoft botches another copy job: Windows Vista Flip3D vs. Apple Mac OS X Exposé – June 26, 2006
Windows Vista rips-off Mac OS X at great hardware cost (and Apple gains in the end) – June 13, 2006
Computerworld: Microsoft Windows Vista a distant second-best to Apple Mac OS X – June 02, 2006
Dude, you got a Dell? What are you, stupid? Only Apple Macs run both Mac OS X and Windows! – April 05, 2006
Defending Windows over Mac a sign of mental illness – December 20, 2003
I’m sorry folks but if you are still taking your hard earned money and buying Microsoft software, you simply deserve the pain. I no I no longer feel sorry for you.
There I said it.
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MDN Magic Word: “glass”. MS Windows (95, XP, Vista, et al) = chewing on broken glass.
> Mac OS X has privilege escallation bugs as well.
Real world evidence suggests that, if there are such “bugs” in Mac OS X, they are sufficiently difficult to exploit into anything useful for the hackers. Even given the 5% to 10% market share for Mac OS X, there would have been a least a few dozen examples of such exploits on Mac OS X, where the Mac becomes a “robot” doing the hacker’s bidding. There have been ZERO. Even the so-called “concept” malware in the labs do not come close allowing a covert “takeover” of the target Mac, and their potential for self-propagation is almost non-existant.
Fanatic Realist, yeah I watched that too! hilarious! What I thought was really wierd was the fact that they talked about google being a competitor, but no mention of Apple! I supposed it was to avoid any awkward questions. WOW, What a bunch of dicks.
MW: answer: Answer the question Gates. Why is OS X so much better than Vista?! ANSWER ME!
“well, you see… um, we are better than OS X because we use a mouse, which is a really revolutionary product that we created. We also created, um, lots of, um, things such as a nice-looking user interface and, um… oh what the hell… I don’t give a shit because i’m fuckin’ loaded!”
Since when did ‘than & then’ become interchangeable in the USA?
MW-brown. Come and squirt in my ear.
Well…. Was this discussed as an actual exploit in the wild?
And, from the page linked- “February 11, 2007 12:00 am”
Early April 1st, apparently. Anyway, it’s only a matter of time before a wild exploit.
I am pleased that so many recent stories about problems with Vista seem to feature some sort of “shoulda bought a Mac” punchline. It’s almost like the new journalistic shortcut: “To create dramatic conflict in your Vista story, be sure to get someone to say that the Mac doesn’t have these problems.” This is a very welcome trend.
Way to miss the real story, MDN. Vista — as great as it already is out of the box — is now being enhanced free of charge by the global online community of Windows enthusiasts. Now, anybody can be a super-user. This new capability augments the already generous and flexible privileges Microsoft provides us Vista users. Are Mac users “super”? I don’t think so. Do you ever get a helping hand from some friendly folks halfway around the world? No, you’re stuck with whatever Cupertino force-feeds you. With the quality of the engineering that went into Vista, I’m confident we’ll see plenty more of this helpful support from our international friends in the global village we call Vista.
Thanks for being so thoughtful, my Russian comrades, and say “hi” to my old friend Sputnik.
The whoops goes poop.
Your frustration. Our fault.
MW: This is a “serious” SNAFU.
This story is not surprising. I’m not at all shocked.
The BBC has excelled itself.. 30 minutes of Microsoft and Vista advertising. Only other company mentioned was Google (twice)!
Effing morons.
“they’ve removed the word Start from the “Start” button”
And that part of the Vista OS development only took three of the six years and $800 million.
During the first year, the button had “Sta” on it. Several million was spent on translators during that time.
Cancel took a year and a half and Allow was only 14 months. For awhile it looked like “Can All” and emergency development teams had to be assembled.
> Anyway, it’s only a matter of time before a wild exploit.
It’s been “a matter of time” for an “in the wild” Mac OS X exploit, for about the last five years. The fact that there have been ZERO is all the proof one needs. Even if some hacker comes up with one, it will require some unlikely combination of an outdated Mac OS X version, a third party wireless card and driver, and a dumb user willing to type in their password.
In any event, with Windows being such easy target, why would a hacker bother trying to break the much tougher Mac OS X?
So lets see, if the hackers find another “total exploit” within the next 19 days, then I guess some asshole in Redmond should be eating all the crows in Washington.
“Anyway, it’s only a matter of time before a wild exploit.”
I think the note left by the hacker who exploited QuickTime a few weeks ago told the tale, “So much effort for such little gain.” Or something to that effect. Mac OS X’s security derives from the secure underlying UNIX code – not market share! Ask a hacker, they will tell you.
My e-mail to money.programme@bbc.co.uk…
Presumably the BBC got paid for that fawning, uncritical look at Microsoft’s latest operating system or will you try to claim that the 60 seconds at the end constituted balance.
Where was the coverage of…
• the fact that many security programmes designed for Vista including Microsoft’s own have been proven to be less than effective.
• the fact that Vista’s much-vaunted “high-definition” functionality simply won’t work because there are no video card/display combinations that will allow HDCP (copy-protected) content to work.
• Gate’s blatant disinformation on his own product (HD, Vista being the only OS on the market to feature parental controls).
• the less than flattering coverage of Vista by many industry commentators
• the fact that many of Vista’s more sophisticated features are only accessible in the higher-value editions (remember there are fourteen different variants to choose from) and that those functions are only made viable using much higher hardware specifications. It should also be noted that, even if you buy a new machine from a Windows OEM (Dell, HP et al), you will probably still face a software upgrade fee to achieve the highest level of Vista functionality.
• the competitors to Vista and Microsoft: MacOS platform computer sales are growing at several times the rate of growth of Windows OEM systems and have been for the last nine months or so. Linux continues to grow in the mission-critical sector and the public sector. Where was the coverage of these platforms or are they and Google going to have share thirty minutes in the programme next week.
Normally I defend the BBC to my friends who view the license fee as an anachronism, but – following your “infomercial” – that isn’t going to be possible in the future until I see some programming which genuinely covers the industry in which I work in a fair and balanced manner.
You could have made a programme in the vein of Channel 4’s specials on the Boeing 777, the Airbus A380 or the JSF competition and kept some dignity; instead you made a thirty-minute advert for a company that has been convicted on both sides of the Atlantic for illegally leveraging its monopoly status which is truly shameful. A cynic might jump to the conclusion that the fact that the BBC seems so determined to supply its on-demand services on Windows only (but for the intervention of the BBC Trust) might be connected to today’s programme, but doubtless they would be wrong.
Let’s see how that particular stick in the hornet’s nest fares.
“Nowadays, security guys break the Mac every single day. Every single day, they come out with a total exploit, your machine can be taken over totally. I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine.”
Is it just me or do Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer seem more and more desperate by the day! That quote is just dripping with denial.
Its friday afternoon and not being a slacker,
I’m busy reading this thread about a Vista hacker.
Gates claims Macs are hacked once a day
And Vista? He says absolutely no way.
So Bill for what I’m to tell you, you’d better sit
Vista’s alreadybeen hacked, you silly little twit.
Way to spin it, Noraa. Mac OS X has privilege escalation attacks that REQUIRE A LOCAL ACCOUNT. Vista’s privilege escalation attacks look to be REMOTE. There’s a big difference between the two, so much so that claiming that “they’re both privilege escalation attacks” is a fatuous statement.
‘The ow stars now.’ Unsquirted, that’s bloody hilarious! =) Only covering 1 letter on vista posters… hmm…
Fanatic Realist:
Very nice, well reasoned (and calm) letter. Wonder if the BBC will actually do anything about it….?
is this what “Welcome to the Social” means?
ick
We have two patients. The first has a little finger bone crack: visible on X-rays. The second comes from a car crash: multiple fracture, broken spine, exposed radius and a cracked skull.
Technically, silly Noraa, we could well say both patients suffer from bone fractures. Technically.
MDN “longer”. How longer will it take till Winsuckers will stop sucking?
John…
If they don’t, the next step will be the BBC Trust and then Ofcom (the equivalent of the US FCC).
I’ll keep you all informed.
WOW ( Stands for” WHY OH WHY”)
I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine.
I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine.
I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine.
I dare anybody to do that once a month.
I dare anybody to do that once a month.
I dare anybody to do that once a month.
I dare anybody.
I dare anybody.
I dare anybody.
I . . .
I . . .
I . . .
.
.
.
Flush!