Bonum Certa Men Certa

Turkey, France, United Stated Under Attack by Microsoft Windows Insecurities

Time for France to move to GNU/Linux more quickly as its
weapons are now controlled/disabled by Windows viruses


THE PREVIOUS POST shows that even Bill Gates recognised the fact that Windows was not secure. What would be the severity of the impact? Let's find out based on this week's news alone.

Under Siege



We have already seen national armies falling prey to Microsoft Windows viruses. This is not just embarrassing; it can cost lives. In fact, it already does, but there is no liability.

“France should move to GNU/Linux more rapidly in order to prevent a disastrous weaponry blunder...”According to this report (in French), Conficker has just shut down a weapons system in France, so the Royal Navy should take notice. This hardly happens with UNIX/Linux systems, which IBM has just deployed to control/manage the nuclear weapons facilities of the United States (see this post under "HPC").

France should move to GNU/Linux more rapidly in order to prevent a disastrous weaponry blunder, but it's not just France that made such headlines due to a confidential letter that raised serious concerns about the safety of French military networks.

Turkey is having some similar problems.

A suspect who allegedly used spyware to snoop on Turkish government computers on behalf of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) faces charges punishable by up to ten years behind bars in Turkey.


The United States too:

Employees at federal security agencies are being notified that their personal information may have been compromised after hackers planted a virus on computer networks of government contractor SRA International.

SRA began notifying employees and all of its customers after discovering the breach recently, company spokeswoman Sheila Blackwell said Tuesday. The malicious software may have allowed hackers to get access to data maintained by SRA, including "employee names, addresses, Social Security numbers, dates of birth and health care provider information," the company said in a notification posted at the Maryland Attorney General's Web site.


End within sight? Not likely.

Botnets Grow Bigger



"Spam will be a thing of the past in two years’ time."

--Bill Gates, 2004



Rather than improving, it just keeps getting worse.

Spam continues to pour into the mailboxes of internet users worldwide, despite concerted efforts by security and law enforcement agencies to stop the deluge, including a decisive but ultimately temporary blow late last year.


"Windows has taken a once useful and reliable communications medium and turned it into unreliable garbage," tells us a regular reader. "For the garbage part, spam is pushing 80% of all e-mail because of Windows. I wonder at what point the milestone in traffic will get passed where Windows malware passes ftp-data."

More news on Conficker:

The zombie network created by the Conficker worm is yet to go "live", but it's displaying curious behaviour that yields potential clues to its origins and purpose.


Conficker is still growing stronger and old Trojans are not going away, either.

A WHOLE year after the authors of a malware site were arrested, some 73 Brits are still infected by a variation of the infamous Pinch Trojan, according to security software vendor, Prevx.


Here is a new example of the impact on every-day lives, including those who do not use Windows.

Malware distributed by fake parking tickets



[...]

A malware infection was propagated through flyers put on windshields in Grand Forks, North Dakota, reports SANS institute.

The flyers were fake parking violation notices, and instructed people to visit a website (which SANS did not publicize). Once they visited the website, they were infected with a malicious browser helper object.


Such a sordid mess can sometimes affects banks.

Vista 7 is More of the Same



As we emphasised before, Microsoft says almost nothing about security improvements in Vista 7. Well, that's because there are none. This is in contrast to the lies Microsoft had been spreading before Vista came.

Despite being in "test" status (beta) that wrongly indicates maturity, the operating system is not secure and it keeps looking worse as people study it more closely.

As you probably know by now, Windows 7 introduces some new in-between modes for User Account Control (UAC). By default, Windows 7 (beta thus far) ships with UAC configured at the “Notify me only when programs try to make changes to my computer.” level. As the UAC helper text indicates, “this setting does not prompt when you change Windows settings, such as control panel and administration tasks.”


Vista 7 builds were already open to hijackers (without security patches made available) and more on the above vulnerability can be read here. Those who want a secure operating environment should take a glimpse at GNU/Linux.

"Our products just aren't engineered for security."

--Brian Valentine, Microsoft executive



Stop nuclear weapons
Bad Vista even worse when used in military

Recent Techrights' Posts

Links 25/06/2025: Elon Musk’s Lawyers Caught Lying, WhatsApp Faces More Bans
Links for the day
Wayland Pushers Lose the Argument, Use LLM Slop and Chatbots to Make Up Arguments for IBM
Another new low and low blow
What is "MATA"?
Think of it as GAFAM or "Meta"
WebProNews is a Slopfarm
Please avoid linking to WebProNews
Another "Told You So!": XBox Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (Many Recent Reports Were Chaff and Spin), Many Other Divisions Affected
With mass layoffs at Microsoft the world would be much better
 
Links 25/06/2025: Thwarting More Software Patents, Overlap Grows Between EPO Corruption and Illegal Kangaroo Patent Courts in EU
Links for the day
Brian Fagioli Created Another Slopfarm Targeting "Linux" After BetaNews Became a Slopfarm of Phantom Accounts and Pseudonyms
Mr. Fagioli even had slop about a dead Torvalds (hypothetical) as clickbait
Wayland is Perfect, Nobody Can Escape Its Perfection! (Or Not)
Do not form on opinion on Wayland based on politics
Moral Duty for "Linux Sites" to Speak Out Against LLM Slop
My wife has long complained about "Linux bloggers" keeping quiet and thus passive about a growing problem: slop
In Recent Hours Google News Promoted at Least 3 Slopfarms That Relayed Linux Foundation Propaganda Made by Bots or LLM "Bullshit Generators" (as Dr. Stallman Dubbed Them)
Google is circling down the drain and Google News too is hopeless
Linux Journal is a Slopfarm, It's Experimenting With LLM 'Authors'
Is Slashdot next?
Microsoft LinkedIn is Dying and Many More Layoffs Are on the Way
LinkedIn is just a failed acquisition of Microsoft. It causes losses and debt.
Gemini Links 25/06/2025: Combinatorial Music and Self Hosting
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Coming Back to Europe This Autumn to Give More Talks
His last talk in Europe attracted about 400-450 people
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 24, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 24, 2025
Social Control Media, Technology & Catholicism: Synod on Synodality review and feedback
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
How Many More Women Will Managers at Microsoft Strangle and Tell to Kill Themselves (or Try to Kill)?
The world needs to know what happened
The New BetaNews: 7 New 'Articles', All of Them LLM Slop
BetaNews is basically defunct. Nobody writes there anymore.
statCounter Estimates Only 1 in 300 Iranians Would Use Microsoft for Search
Iranians don't quite trust Microsoft
Gemini Links 24/06/2025: ftpd on FreeBSD and Online Small Web Magazine
Links for the day
Google News Does Great Harm by Promoting Slopfarms as Legitimate News Sites
Slopfarms are sites which are 100% LLM slop
Links 24/06/2025: Trouble at "Open" "AI" and ‘Siarhei is Free’
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/06/2025: Stimulants and Subscription Costs for DRM
Links for the day
When the Microsoft Aggressors Rely on Several Law Firms ('Attack Dogs', 'Guns for Hire'), Not Just One, Lawyering Up Against Techrights (Acting on Behalf of Americans Against UK Publishers)
From serving customers at some restaurant he has moved on to bullying people with demand letters
Links 24/06/2025: OpenAI [sic] May Soon Die (Too Much Debt) and Social Control Media Accused of Being Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda Amplifier
Links for the day
Nirbheek Chauhan in Planet GNOME Explains Why Wayland Pushers Are Losing
"A strange game. The only winning move is not to play."
Polygamy, from Catholic Synod on Synodality to Social Control Media & Debian CyberPolygamy
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Only a Third of or 1 in 3 Web-Connected Devices is a Desktop or Laptop, According to statCounter
we can expect Android to widen its lead
The Days Are Getting Shorter, the First Half of 2025 is Almost Over
We're gratified to see significant increase in traffic and also positive feedback on the work we do
Turning GNU/Linux Into a Political Football
X (not the site) is Free software
X Server Still Works for Many People
A lot of people will grow suspicious of Wayland boosters/pushers if they persist and insist on using these tactics
Exactly a Week Ago "BetaNews Staff" Said "Betanews Is Growing Alongside You". Since Then Every Article (All by "Camila Nogueira") Has Been LLM Slop.
BetaNews is basically a slopfarm
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 23, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, June 23, 2025
The "Tarzan Effect" in Compilers and Software
What happens when you forcibly make things 'work', either by hacks or by disregarding warnings (like those that compilers tend to issue)?
Gemini Links 23/06/2025: Mass Tourism, Hair Love, and Google Gemini as a Googlebomb
Links for the day
Law Firm Burgess Mee Does Not Fully Deny Participating in Abusive Litigation for Serial Strangler From Microsoft
I am not unfamiliar with these tactics
The Modus Operandi of Wayland Pushers: Make It Political
do what I say or you're a nazi...
Links 23/06/2025: RFE/RL Contributor Vladyslav Yesypenko Released, Recording Industry Cutbacks
Links for the day
Brett Wilson LLP Solicitors (M): Over 99.9% of Our E-mail is Self-Marketing, We Send You 3.5MB E-mails for Less Than 1KB of Text
Why would tech people entrust legal matters to such people?
Peter Moon's (Computerworld) Interview With Richard Stallman
Stallman: If you want freedom don't follow Linus Torvalds
At What Point Does Outsourcing Constitute Malpractice?
Brett Wilson LLP's new staff page is misleading
United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sailing to GNU/Linux, According to statCounter
countries in that region will quickly learn the price of neglecting digital sovereignty
From Do Your Own Research to Do Your Own Search
The Web is full of garbage; search engines amplify this garbage
More People Moving to Geminispace?
at age 6+ Gemini Protocol seems to have gained some maturity and it seems like more people use it
Permutation in LLMs Does, Inevitably, Change Meanings and Therefore LLMs Cannot Properly Rephrase or Summarise Texts
LLMs lack actual grasp or comprehension of what they spew out
Links 23/06/2025: Many Security Breaches, Population Declines
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/06/2025: "America at the Crossroads" and OpenWRT Surgery
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 22, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, June 22, 2025
Pure Dove
Different means different, and sometimes those who "deviate" from "the norm" have a point
Censorship is a Sign of Weakness Which Invites More Censorship Attempts
revolutionaries don't succumb to pressure from bullies
Why It's Unlikely That LLM Slop Will Dominate the Web in the Long Run
Slopfarms will eventually perish (they have no actual value) and "survivors" on the Web will be sites that never depended on search engines and social control media
GNU/Linux in Argentina Now Measured Near 5%
Like in central Europe, they must be seeing an increasingly hostile US
BetaNews is Fake News, Composed by LLM Slop
nothing in BetaNews is written by humans anymore