Editors • About the Site • Comes vs. Microsoft • Using This Web Site • Site Archives • Credibility Index • OOXML • OpenDocument • Patents • Novell • News Digest • Site News • RSS

06.04.14

Focusing on the Lesser Dangerous Security Problems

Posted in Free/Libre Software, Security at 11:26 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: The obsession with security flaws that are immediately addressed by FOSS developers helps distract from deliberate flaws in proprietary software (back doors)

FOSS-hostile sites/tabloids like ZDNet happily cover security issues when they are already fixed and briefly affected Free software. The latest GnuTLS flaw (flaws in it are nothing new and they get addressed quickly [1, 2]) is starting to receive coverage in expected places (other than Microsoft-connected [1, 2, 3]). It is not just CBS sites but also Condé Nasty, another neighbour of Wall Street (where all those large media companies are based). There are provocative photos as usual from Dan Goodin, not to mention the Linuxwashing of this cross-platform issue. IDG does this, but IDG [1] also alludes to back doors in Windows without naming them as such.

Why don’t they spend more time covering deliberate back doors from Microsoft/NSA or even Apple? It does not seem to serve their sponsors as much as FOSS FUD. Ever since the NSA leaks came out (it started a year ago) it seems like much of the technology/corporate media looks the other way and tries to turn every little bug in FOSS into headlines, claiming that FOSS is less secure. Perhaps there is fear that many people will walk away from software with back doors, necessitating alternatives (spooks cracking in more clever ways, trying hard to put back doors without being noticed in freely-available source code). █

Related/contextual items from the news:

  1. Beware the next circle of hell: Unpatchable systems

    Microsoft’s decision to end support for Windows XP in April was met with a collective gulp by the IT community. For good reason: Approximately 30 percent of all desktop systems continue to run XP despite Microsoft’s decision to stop offering security updates. Furthermore, a critical security flaw in Internet Explorer 8 disclosed recently by HP’s TippingPoint Division opens the door to remote attacks on XP systems that use IE8.

Share this post: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Reddit
  • co.mments
  • DZone
  • email
  • Google Bookmarks
  • LinkedIn
  • NewsVine
  • Print
  • Technorati
  • TwitThis
  • Facebook

If you liked this post, consider subscribing to the RSS feed or join us now at the IRC channels.

Pages that cross-reference this one

What Else is New

  1. Patent Scavenging or Racing to the Bottom of Patent Quality

    The patent microcosm is pushing for software patents, and for litigation with such patents, but it all boils down to bottom feeding

  2. EPO and UPC Can Become the Next 'Dieselgate'

    Mischievous policies in Germany and cover-up of abuses won’t bode well for the nation; we’re already seeing some of the pushback, but can António Campinos keep the gory details under the wraps for much longer?

  3. Microsoft Partner Explains How Microsoft Screws Partners (and Free/Open Source Projects)

    "Nothing Has Truly Changed Since Netscape and Antitrust," as we put it four days ago; the 'new' Microsoft is the exact same company with the exact same strategies, which include destruction by assimilation

  4. Why Does Microsoft Even Want to Associate With Satanic Ritual Cults and Marina Abramović?

    Microsoft's 'news' sites fail to heed the warning or the toxicity (bad publicity) associated with Marina Abramović and they promote Microsoft's proprietary software using not only militarism (goggles for the Army) but borderline cannibalism

  5. IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, January 28, 2020

    IRC logs for Tuesday, January 28, 2020

  6. Links 29/1/2020: MPV 0.32, Qt Offering Changes, Thunderbird Gets New Home

    Links for the day

  7. Don't Let the Collapse of News Companies Be the Collapse of Information (or Ascent of Misinformation)

    We're growingly concerned that the collapse of the mainstream media will entail reliance not on reliable and independent alternatives but corporate marketing agencies, charlatans and frauds, sometimes even deliberate falsehoods and state-manufactured bogus stories

  8. When Police Gets in the Way of Investigations, Having Used Microsoft Products to Investigate Microsoft Issues

    In this long article we outline barriers we’ve come across in pursuit of information from the police (the pedophilia arrest at the mansion of Bill Gates — followed by conviction and arrest — has thousands of pages about it, but since September the police has shared not even one!)

  9. Guest Post: Free Software is About Software Ownership

    "In effect, companies will lose control and profit. Will they accept that?"

  10. IRC Proceedings: Monday, January 27, 2020

    IRC logs for Monday, January 27, 2020

  11. Links 27/1/2020: Linux 5.5 is Out, Work on Linux 5.6 Commences, New Solus and Award for Andrew Tridgell

    Links for the day

  12. EPO: Goodbye to the Rule of Law and Hey Hi, AI!

    The EPO’s embrace of buzzwords — no longer a unique EPO strategy (it has already spread elsewhere) — puts examiners in a very bad position and they’re grappling with nerve- and mind-racking dilemmas (risk of unemployment for truly upholding the EPC)

  13. IRC Proceedings: Sunday, January 26, 2020

    IRC logs for Sunday, January 26, 2020

  14. Links 26/1/2020: MuseScore 3.4 Released, New Kate Icon and Solus 4.1 Fortitude Available

    Links for the day

  15. MIT and Microsoft Have Done Nothing to Actually Tackle Pedophilia and Ephebophilia

    MIT never actually resolved the issue that caused Joi Ito, Richard Stallman and others to be ejected; Microsoft meanwhile continues to profit from life-changing abuse (while seeding puff pieces in friendly media, just to pretend otherwise)

  16. Opinion: If You Advocate Population Control and You Are Yourself Doubling in One Single Generation, Then You Might be Hypocritical

    People with 3-5 children (each) tell us that the world has an overpopulation problem; while the growth of the population certainly poses a risk, these people lack the moral authority to lecture us about that (unless they adopt a eugenicist worldview, wherein only particular people are permitted to reproduce)

  17. IRC Proceedings: Saturday, January 25, 2020

    IRC logs for Saturday, January 25, 2020

  18. Nothing Has Truly Changed Since Netscape and Antitrust

    The same old crimes persist, as well as the blatantly anticompetitive behaviour

  19. When the Monopolists and the Patent Litigation Industry Hijack the News They Control the Narrative

    Money buys perception and litigation firms have certainly 'bought' the media coverage, which fails to convey the issue at stake and instead paints a rational court decision as tragedy for "innovation" (by "innovation" they mean monopolies on nature and on life)

  20. Links 25/1/2020: OPNsense 20.1 RC1 and DXVK 1.5.2

    Links for the day

  21. The Linux Kernel is No Longer Free Software?

    Gardiner Bryant, the creator of The Linux Gamer as well as The Off Topical Podcast, reacts to our articles about DRM in Linux (he even pronounced my name correctly)

  22. Sometimes Proprietary Software is Proprietary (Secret) Simply Because It is Not Good and Obfuscation Helps Hide Just How Ugly It Is

    Why nonfree (or proprietary) software generally fails to catch up with Free/libre software — at least on technical grounds — and then makes up for it with marketing and FUD offensives (discrediting perfectly-functioning things, based on their perceived cost)

  23. IRC Proceedings: Friday, January 24, 2020

    IRC logs for Friday, January 24, 2020

  24. Links 24/1/2020: GNU/Linux in Russia and More New Openings

    Links for the day

  25. When EPO Press Coverage Boils Down to Lobbying, Press Releases, EPO Lies, and Bribery

    Any attempts to properly assess and explain what happens in Europe's patent landscape are being drowned out by EPO-bribed and law firms-connected media; to make matters worse, the EPO's bribes have expanded to academia, so even scholarly work in this domain is corrupted by money of special interest groups

  26. IRC Proceedings: Thursday, January 23, 2020

    IRC logs for Thursday, January 23, 2020

  27. Links 23/1/2020: Qubes OS 4.0.3, EasyOS 2.2.5, GhostBSD 20.01

    Links for the day

  28. Passion of the Microsoft

    A rough timeline of Microsoft’s interactions with Linux and the Linux Foundation since 2015

  29. The Patent Microcosm is Really Panicking as European Patents on Life and Other Spurious Junk (Invalid Patents) Are Successfully Rejected

    European Patents (EPs) may be revoked en masse if what we're seeing is the gradual emergence of 'European Mayo' (and maybe soon 'European Alice')

  30. Distractions From Microsoft's Gigantic Tax Evasion and Contribution to Denial of Climate Science

    Microsoft (connected to oil companies) wants us to think of it as a "green" company; not only does it contribute to climate denial but it also evades tax, which is a serious crime that costs tens of billions of dollars (the public pays this money instead)

RSS 64x64RSS Feed: subscribe to the RSS feed for regular updates

Home iconSite Wiki: You can improve this site by helping the extension of the site's content

Home iconSite Home: Background about the site and some key features in the front page

Chat iconIRC Channel: Come and chat with us in real time

Recent Posts