“Windows enthusiasts weary of making excuses for Microsoft’s security failures have discovered that the best defense is a good offense,” Daniel Eran writes for RoughlyDrafted.
“Ignoring the fact that every desktop infested with malware is running Windows, and dismissing the reality that every headline grabbing worm and every virus crisis that disrupts business and results in expensive cleanup efforts has similarly been the fault of Windows, a new version of reality is being presented that insists that Windows is now more secure than ever, and that the real security problems lie with Linux, Macs, and the iPhone,” Eran writes.
“No amount of numbers can erase the huge expense involved in decontaminating, patching, and cleaning up Windows PCs, something that has no equal on other platforms. Microsoft insisted that Windows XP was the most secure Windows ever, at least until the release of Vista when it conceded that XP was riddled with architectural flaws that Vista thoughtfully fixed. Vista is now the most secure Windows ever, but based on previous awardees of that crown, that doesn’t mean much,” Eran writes.
Full article here.
Well,
Windows Vista is the «most secure» version of Windows ever. That is, it gives unbeatable job security to the vendors that sell Windows antivirus, antimalware software. You just can’t get job security like that from anyone but M$. An entire industry depends on Vista (non)security.
Thurrotts parroted claim that “Address Space Layout Randomizer (ASLR) will virtually eliminate remote system attacks for the first time on the Windows platform” is laughable. Yes, it’s a “good thing”<sup>&tm;</sup> to do. BUT – there’s still a launch table in active memory and it can still be read and exploited. So “virtually eliminate,” sure, and I’ve got some nice ocean-front real estate in Nevada I’d like to sell him…
I’ve stuck by this position for years, and unless there is drastic change for the better within Microsuck, it will be true throughout the foreseeable future. If you have to set up a Windows system for someone new to computers, do them a favor and inform them of the best, most fool-proof way to secure it by following this one simple step: steal their power cord. This is the best way to secure a Windows system out there. Hear that Norton Antivirus and Macafee? To doubly insure the security of this user, feel free to also implement these security measures.
1. Remove any and all drives by which external devices may be connected to the computer. This includes optical drives, PCMCIA slots in laptops, archaic floppy drives, and USB, Serial, SCSI and Firewire/iLink/IEEE 1394 ports by which external drives may be attached.
2. Remove all possible connections to the Internet. These include Ethernet connections as well as wireless, Bluetooth, and even infrared.
3. For the greatest possible security, you should also try removing the keyboard, mouse/trackball/trackpad, monitor, hard drive and input styli in they have them.
Congratulations! You have just done what Microsoft with its 70,000+ employees, billions of dollars, and supposedly some of the smartest minds in computer science and programming could not. You have full secured Windows from all possible attacks, all enemies foreign and domestic.
P.S. Uncle Sam still wants you.
My IT manager admitted today that many IT managers simply m ake up shit for their company to do simply to justify their own existence. Most IT people suck ass. Computer == Windows to them. Myopic f-faces.
He’s interesting, and always makes some good points, but he gets important things wrong as well.
This doesn’t fit the topic of the article, but I don’t know where else to post it–now that the WSJ has been taken over by Rupert Murdoch, what is going to happen to Walt Mossberg’s columns?
I fear he will be at the receiving end of Rupert’s long tentacles and that he will be forced to tow the Murdoch/Right Wing line. Anyone else concerned about this?
Sorry. Instead of “tow,” I should have written “toe.”
I’m afraid Rupert Murdoch will want MS-friendly articles only, and all evidence suggests he will completely change the tone of what was once a great newspaper.
What the F*** is a newspaper? Is it like those ancient information sharing devices we used back in the previous millennium? Those are still needed by bird owners, right? Why do you insist on clinging to the obsolete? 21st century here we come, maybe?