“A federal judge in Alexandria, Virginia, granted a request by Microsoft to deactivate 277 Internet domains, which the software maker said is linked to a ‘botnet,’ the paper said,” Prasad reports. “A botnet is an army of infected computers that hackers can control from a central machine.”
Prasad reports, “Judge Brinkema’s order required VeriSign Inc., an Internet security and naming services provider, to temporarily turn off the suspect Internet addresses, the paper said.”
Prasad reports, “On Feb. 18, Internet security firm NetWitness said in a report that a new type of computer virus is known to have breached almost 75,000 computers in 2,500 organizations around the world.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Because Microsoft can’t produce a secure operating system, they now get to knock domains off the ‘Net? Seems like a dangerous precedent to us.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Bill D.” for the heads up.]
…And how many people amongst those domains where just hacked by somebody who will never be punished?
Yet, many people will have their website caput just like that? Will they be contacted and prevented… or simply considered as bandits and left with their dead site?
No soup for you!!
Assuming the courts properly vetted these rogue domain names this is probably the first good thing Microsoft has ever done and should actually benefit everyone. Spammers/phishers/virus spreaders/etc need to be shut down!
What Microsoft is doing is akin to leaving the windows and doors of your house not just unlocked, but open, and then complaining about people burgling your house.
On another note, I think we can all see where this is going. How long before pro-Apple websites such as MDN are classified as “spreading spam and hateful views” by Microsoft and ordered to shut down?
@almux-
277 out of countless millions!?! I think you’re being paranoid that your granma’s knitting site will be dragged down with those hardwired into known viruses.
If apple did this, the gnashing of teef and crying out would be overwhelming and continuos.
Strange that XBoxLive.com and Microsoft.com were numbers 12 and 17 on the list.
A US court approves a global shutdown? And this is going to be enforced how?
simply considered as bandits and left with their dead site?
Running Windblows is kinda criminal isn’t it?
Sure will teach them a lesson to avoid Windblows!
Yup- treat the symptom instead of fixing the problem.
How long will this fix last? Probably 24 hours before another 300 pops up. LOL
@Hm…
Third paragraph of the article.
“Prasad reports, “Judge Brinkema’s order required VeriSign Inc., an Internet security and naming services provider, to temporarily turn off the suspect Internet addresses, the paper said.”
You say the dam has a crack in it and water is leaking out?
Here is a king sized box of 277 Band-Aids. Take care of that leak before something dangerous happens.
Microsoft, ya gotta love the the long, slow, death rattles.
“the gnashing of teef “
Don’t you just love this site?
Subserviant:
“What Microsoft is doing is akin to leaving the windows and doors of your house not just unlocked, but open….”
Yeah, and now because their own locks don’t work, they want to approve certain doors and windows (no relation), and outlaw others.
MSN and Bing on the list?
The real story is not about Microsoft and Windows, it’s about a criminal organization who is exploiting a weakness in the human condition and how the countries from which they operate are powerless to stop them.
Microsoft is at the mercy of faceless pirates and can’t fix the problem without asking for government intervention, whose only remedy is a nuclear option.
The real story is about Microsoft’s consumers, many of whom are not only ignorant, but weak and stupid, and are easy prey for websites masquerading as legitimate businesses peddling sex, insider information, cheap or free software, game consoles, and coupons.
Greed is the condition and it’s the nature of Windows users to exploit every freebie available. They can’t stop themselves. They’re cheap-assed, free-based addicts.
Microsoft has, in recent years, learned valuable lessons, not from the inherent weaknesses of their products, but from their customers as a whole; they can’t be trusted to save themselves.
No one understands this better than Apple. More often than not, before they put a consumer product in the hands of their customers, they take every precaution to make it Murphy proof. But even in the world of Apple there are exceptions and the fact is, you can’t fix stupid.
We have companies like Symantec, et. al., who make a fortune exploiting stupid. The reality is, they can only save you from known threats and are powerless against a friendly disguise. They offer walls, gates, alarms, and roaming patrols, all of which are a complete waste of resources because the individual they are designed to protect is going to eat a bullet.
It’s high time we were offered a more proactive solution that prey’s on the weaknesses of those unscrupulous pirates. I’m thinking about a software product that is designed to leave an attractive payload for these hackers, that contains a piece of code capable of killing the host.
Think ants! You can kill one at a time but the smart move is to kill the queen and the best way to do that is to create a mixture of ant poison and sugar. The ants will collect the sugar crystals and the poison will stick to their bodies. In time, the poisonous payload will reach the queen and put her out of business.
@ron
LOL!
or, the gnashing of tooth, if you’re a hick.
I wonder what the court and judge needed by way of PROOF from Microsoft to determine that these 277 Domains were engaging in scurrilous activity! As long as they can prove it, I applaud the courts action.
Unfortunately, those domain owners probably just changed host provider, got a new IP address, rebadged their URL and are back in business…
Sheesh…
Here is a more detailed description of what this was about:
http://www.krebsonsecurity.com/2010/02/microsoft-ambushes-waledac-botnet-shutters-whistleblower-site/
BTW, this benefits Mac users in that it will reduce spam. So all the snide commenters, including MDN, read and learn
It’s GUILTY until proven INNOCENT!
They should start with microsoft.com. Next should bemacdailynews.com and keep it off until you guys get rid of the popup and flash advertising.
They should start with microsoft.com. Next should bemacdailynews.com and keep it off until you guys get rid of the popup and flash advertising.
Sadly, the article doesn’t mention the fact that the Winblows OS is the root cause of the botnet.
@Subserviant
While I have concerns about the ruling, and would need to know much more about it than I do to form a complete opinion, I feel the need to correct your quote. It’s:
“spreading spam and harmful computer codes”
Not:
“spreading spam and hateful views”
And in case you were purposefully misquoting or misusing quotes to show where, in your mind, such a judgement might lead; this ruling appears to leave the freedom of speech (hateful views) quite intact. We can continue berating MS at our leisure.