Bruce Schneier is always on the ball!
Wired News: Everyone Wants to 'Own' Your PC
It used to be that only malicious hackers were trying to own your computers. [...]Now, things are not so simple. There are all sorts of interests vying for control of your computer. [...] All these companies want to own your computer.
...and a few others along with him, as collateral damageDaily Kos: Re-Improved Colbert transcript (now with complete text of Colbert-Thomas video!)
This is a great article, with an unusual amount of frankness from a Microsoft employee talking about how bad things really are now.
Microsoft Says Recovery from Malware Becoming Impossible
"At Microsoft, we are fielding 2,000 attacks per hour. We are a constant target, and you have to assume your Internet-facing service is also a big target," Danseglio said.So what are we doing running Windows on our internet facing servers? Waiting for a wake-up call?
[There are other quotes in that article that merit replay and/or serious discussion. No time now -- but sometime later today I will expand this blog entry.]
The Sleeping Giant Goes on the Offensive - April 3, 2006
Do you have an iPod?Hopefully he can't brainwash anyone else, children or otherwise :-)No, I do not. Nor do my children. My children--in many dimensions they're as poorly behaved as many other children, but at least on this dimension I've got my kids brainwashed: You don't use Google, and you don't use an iPod.
Capitol Hill Blue - Warning! Financial responsibility can lead to terrorism
They were told, as they moved up the managerial ladder at the call center, that the amount they had sent in was much larger than their normal monthly payment. And if the increase hits a certain percentage higher than that normal payment, Homeland Security has to be notified. And the money doesn't move until the threat alert is lifted.
Stratus Using Linux: the Missed Story OP/ED - www.reallylinux.com
When such a company, fixated on true fault tolerant hardware, having spent years developing their own OS, begins integrating Linux into its server line, that's saying something significant.
Update. Apparently Steve Gibson was a bit rash in his conclusions, so this is not true after all!
Compelling article on why the recent WMF exploit was very likely intentionally placed by Microsoft.
Slashdot says:
In a more detailed explanation, Gibson explains that the way SetAbortProc works in metafiles does not bear even the slightest resemblance to the way it works when used by a program while printing. Based on the information presented, it really does look like an intentional backdoor.
Freedom to Tinker » Blog Archive » CD Copy Protection: The Road to Spyware
So if you're designing a CD DRM system based on active protection, you face two main technical problems:[For those who don't know, Ed Felten is a Professor of Computer Science and Public Affairs at Princeton University]
These are the same two technical problems that spyware designers face.
- You have to get your software installed, even though the user doesn't want it.
- Once your software is installed, you have to keep it from being uninstalled, even though the user wants it gone.
We are entering the era of ubiquitous and safety critical computing, but the developers of DRM technologies seem to believe that computers are nothing more than personal entertainment systems for consumers. This belief is convenient, because creating DRM mechanisms that respect security, safety, and reliability concerns is going to be an expensive and complex engineering task.
For those who know me, this post is NOT about Microsoft. It is about the terrible communication skills of most managers today, although Ballmer did happen to provide the best example :-) God knows what they learn in management school and all those sessions they have with high-priced gurus like [deleted] and [deleted] :-)
