UK Drama: MSBBC Blames Google -- Not Microsoft -- for London Stock Exchange Site Malware, Sabotage Still Suspected

Dr. Roy Schestowitz

2011-03-01 19:52:05 UTC
Modified: 2011-03-01 20:14:09 UTC

Summary: The London Stock Exchange is besieged not just by mysterious errors but also disinformation

THERE IS something funny going on at the London Stock Exchange, which was Microsoft's principal poster child before the London Stock Exchange dumped Microsoft for GNU/Linux. The Microsoft UK-occupied BBC (or MSBBC for short) has odd new coverage; "yet more high school tech journalism from the BBC malware story without mentioning the M or W words," wrote Gordon about it and "funnily enough for a Windows story, Google get a few name drops, while Windows does not; any Microsofties employed by #BBC? That explains it [...] amazing how Google are the bad guys for not being alert enough to spot malware, while Microsoft don't get a mention for leaving the holes"

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols clarifies that "London Stock Exchange Woes not Linux's Fault" and he adds that:

Google, which does a good job of finding and marking dodgy sites, marked the LSE site as having malware problems over the weekend. Users of Web browsers, such as Chrome, Firefox, and Safari that use Google’s Safe Browsing API (Application Programming Interface) were warned off the LSE site. Users of Internet Explorer, which doesn’t use this API, could have still visited the site without any warning.

Since the problem was uncovered, the LSE has removed the advertiser and its infected links. Google now reports the site as being safe for browsing.

There is another reported issue, which we have read about in the papers for months. Groklaw suspects vandalism (maybe Micromoles), but there is no evidence of such a thing, at least not yet. In any event, more stock markets have recently moved to GNU/Linux, just like the London Stock Exchange. These markets offer super-lucrative contracts and reputation, so Microsoft cannot afford to lose this one. It was also a poster child that it spent a lot of money promoting as a Windows 'success story'.

Whatever happens in the London Stock Exchange, this world is changing fairly fast and even Microsoft's 'wonder girl' who became a Windows 'expert' at a very young age is now turning to Red Hat. From the new article: "And she’s all of 10 right now, all set to turn 11 this May! M Lavinashree is, however, rather matter of fact about her accomplishments. “I scored 178.1 out of 200 in my test at Red Hat. It was simple as I was preparing for it for the last four years. My family encouraged me to go on,” says the Class VI student of Lakshmi School, Veerapanchan, Madurai, who completed the entire Red Hat Certified Programme requirements on June 30 last year via a Prometric examination."

The future is GNU/Linux. Even children are starting to grow up with it, e.g. on Android phones. ⬆

Comments

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2011-03-02 14:43:57

The BBC quotes a "security expert" who uses Windows on his own desktop? Because the BBC made it hard to tell, I looked it up myself. One of the first things found looks like his own blog which makes it obvious that this is a Windows problem:

The malware was a classic spoof antivirus program which used a software vulnerability to download and install native executable code. The spoof program appeared in the system tray and prevented other processes such as Task Manager being run, falsely claiming that they were infected with a virus. The malware then tried to extort payment to fix the artificial problem it had created. It also replaced the wallpaper image with the following message:

There's only one OS with all of those features and people who know what they are doing avoid it. Perhaps he did this on purpose or was using a VM to see what happenens to other users, but this Kent graduate and Netcraft employee who wears funny tshirts has participated in BBC Wikileaks/anonymous FUD stories [2], so it could be HBGary all over again.

Thanks for pointing out that Google and Chrome are also maligned by the BBC's poor coverage. The BBC, Paul and Netcraft should be ashamed of themselves for basically lying to the public in order to protect Microsoft's tattered reputation. I've asked Paul to Call Out Windows. Let's see what happens.

twitter

2011-03-04 16:10:37

Paul's blog page now mentions Windows several times but my comment, pointing to the Call Out Windows page at Techrights was deleted. Paul now leads his article off with,

The London Stock Exchange website exposed some visitors to drive-by malware attacks today. Merely viewing the homepage at www.londonstockexchange.com (without clicking on anything) caused my Windows computer to be compromised by malware.

That is a commendable edit, thank you Paul, but I'm not sure I'll bother to comment again where what I write may be erased or edited. The other mention of Windows is in later comments defending Windows by blaming the user, "For heaven's sakes people," followed by some novel voodoo.
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2011-03-04 21:17:20

Let's see if Paul allows this comment.

Thank you for finally calling out Windows. People who know computing understand that you are talking about a typical Windows problem but BBC readers might unfairly blame others if the word "Windows" is never mentioned.

I thought it was strange that he finally called out windows but deleted my request for him to do so. The comments section is filled with vacuous conversation about pressing F8, Facebook, and various spam like mentions and links, such as http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/remove-system-tool, http://securemecca.com and Malwarebytes. The inane comments go to show that this is a widespread Windows problem, they may have been inserted by trolls following Techrights who wish to drown out real conversations when they are critical of Microsoft.

UK Drama: MSBBC Blames Google -- Not Microsoft -- for London Stock Exchange Site Malware, Sabotage Still Suspected

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