Microsoft to hackers: Take your best shot

Death from the Sea · Post by **Death from the Sea** » 2006-08-03 11:13pm

Microsoft is try to make the latest operating system Microsoft Vista hacker proof. Do you think this is gonna help or not?

Ar-Adunakhor · Post by **Ar-Adunakhor** » 2006-08-03 11:22pm

The second pure liquid water fails to be wet, perhaps.

Honestly, just look at Microsoft's record with vital flaws in their *current* systems. Months for critical exploits to be fixed? PFFT! SOP. And then there was the leak of Longhorn a year or two back. They can't even keep their OWN systems and vital projects completely free of subterfuge, so why should we think they can keep millions of computer-illiterates safe from their own stupidity?

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2006-08-03 11:48pm

Yes, it'll help.

Xon · Post by **Xon** » 2006-08-04 03:33am

Ar-Adunakhor wrote:Honestly, just look at Microsoft's record with vital flaws in their *current* systems. Months for critical exploits to be fixed? PFFT! SOP.

Go fundemental miss-understanding of how computers work!

And then there was the leak of Longhorn a year or two back

It was Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, and more importantly it was a company doing Windows->linux translations who fucked up. They dumped some old harddrives which contained the sourececode without scrubing/destroying them. I really cant see how this is Microsoft's fault.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2006-08-04 07:30am

At least it's not as bad as that time when Apple boasted about being unhackable or crackable and then someone went and bludgeoned their OS (nearly as funny as the report about a lack of viruses on Mac, then the day later the first major worm comes out).

Zac Naloen · Post by **Zac Naloen** » 2006-08-04 08:27am

Admiral Valdemar wrote:At least it's not as bad as that time when Apple boasted about being unhackable or crackable and then someone went and bludgeoned their OS (nearly as funny as the report about a lack of viruses on Mac, then the day later the first major worm comes out).

Has anyone come out to dispute that US study that OSX is actually the easiest to hack system out there?

Faram · Post by **Faram** » 2006-08-04 11:13am

Well they did this when they released W2K Server, and it was promptly hacked, many times. Also why tell Microsoft about this if you are a hacker?

Hawkwings · Post by **Hawkwings** » 2006-08-04 11:35am

they pay you by the security exploit found?

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2006-08-04 11:57am

Tiger teams. My college had one I almost joined. There's good money to be made from ex-hackers going legit and using their tricks to get into the latest systems, for a price. They not only help the industry, but make a nice profit themselves.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2006-08-04 12:50pm

Admiral Valdemar wrote:At least it's not as bad as that time when Apple boasted about being unhackable or crackable and then someone went and bludgeoned their OS (nearly as funny as the report about a lack of viruses on Mac, then the day later the first major worm comes out).

There...hasn't been a major worm. It turned out to be a proof of concept created by an antivirus company. The only Mac 'virus' released in the wild was a trojan claiming to be Leopard pictures that asks for your administrator password when you run it.

Zac Naloen · Post by **Zac Naloen** » 2006-08-04 01:05pm

Praxis wrote:
Admiral Valdemar wrote:At least it's not as bad as that time when Apple boasted about being unhackable or crackable and then someone went and bludgeoned their OS (nearly as funny as the report about a lack of viruses on Mac, then the day later the first major worm comes out).
There...hasn't been a major worm. It turned out to be a proof of concept created by an antivirus company. The only Mac 'virus' released in the wild was a trojan claiming to be Leopard pictures that asks for your administrator password when you run it.

The only reason there hasn't been a major worm for OSX is because theres no fun in it. If you take windows down your a god. if you attack OSX your picking on the little people

Xon · Post by **Xon** » 2006-08-04 02:06pm

Praxis wrote:There...hasn't been a major worm. It turned out to be a proof of concept created by an antivirus company. The only Mac 'virus' released in the wild was a trojan claiming to be Leopard pictures that asks for your administrator password when you run it.

That describeds almost 99% of security exploits for Windows.

God damn stupid users.

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2006-08-04 03:05pm

Xon wrote:
Praxis wrote:There...hasn't been a major worm. It turned out to be a proof of concept created by an antivirus company. The only Mac 'virus' released in the wild was a trojan claiming to be Leopard pictures that asks for your administrator password when you run it.
That describeds almost 99% of security exploits for Windows.

God damn stupid users.

Minus the part where it asks for your admin password before it installs itself. Though to be fair, Microsoft has apparently fixed that problem in Vista. It won't stop imbecile users from entering their passwords anyway, but you can only idiot-proof a system so much before it becomes too annoying for non-idiot users.

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2006-08-04 03:53pm

Zac Naloen wrote:The only reason there hasn't been a major worm for OSX is because theres no fun in it. If you take windows down your a god. if you attack OSX your picking on the little people

Please. With all the bitching and moaning Windows users do about Apple's commercials, their hype and Mac fans, someone would have written a virus out of spite by now.

Windows simply has the unenviable position of being the most popular operating system on the planet yet also being very poorly designed in terms of security. Marketshare helps, but it's not as critical a factor in virus-writing as bad design.

Zac Naloen · Post by **Zac Naloen** » 2006-08-04 04:13pm

Please. With all the bitching and moaning Windows users do about Apple's commercials, their hype and Mac fans, someone would have written a virus out of spite by now.

Windows simply has the unenviable position of being the most popular operating system on the planet yet also being very poorly designed in terms of security. Marketshare helps, but it's not as critical a factor in virus-writing as bad design.

Most "Hackers" use Linux, so i doubt they give much of a shit about the windows vs apple bitching in the media.

But seeing as you bought the adverts up there is one that really got on my tits

"What does your computer come with, err.. calculator"

"oh wow mine comes with iphoto"

What they neglect to mention is that the latest version of Iphoto is little more than windows media and fax viewer with the option to buy extra features off the net. When you used to be able to do it all in the programme.

My girlfriend is actually pissed off that her latest version of Iphoto doesn't have blemish remover anymore and it takes a lot to get her worked up about something computer related.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2006-08-04 05:58pm

Durandal wrote:
Windows simply has the unenviable position of being the most popular operating system on the planet yet also being very poorly designed in terms of security. Marketshare helps, but it's not as critical a factor in virus-writing as bad design.

You need to tell that to some Apple and MS fanboys I've come across. They insist that the reason systems like Solaris, FreeBSD and Linux don't have anywhere near the viruses of XP is down entirely to popularity. As if OSX and Ubuntu suddenly became super popular, replacing Windows, then they'd get a flood of viruses and malware etc. on them as a consequence.

Civil War Man · Post by **Civil War Man** » 2006-08-04 09:16pm

Admiral Valdemar wrote:They insist that the reason systems like Solaris, FreeBSD and Linux don't have anywhere near the viruses of XP is down entirely to popularity. As if OSX and Ubuntu suddenly became super popular, replacing Windows, then they'd get a flood of viruses and malware etc. on them as a consequence.

It does make some amount of sense. I doubt many hackers would bother writing a virus that will only affect a few thousand computers if they can make a virus that will work its way into millions.

Being less computer savvy than most here, I'm sure its more complicated than that, but I could still see that playing a major role.