Bonum Certa Men Certa

Government Shoots Itself in the Foot by Letting Microsoft Control Insecurity Departments

Rooster



Summary: President Obama puts a fox in change of the hen house with yet another appointment of Microsoft for security; Microsoft helps malware writers

THE United States government is not engineered for security because it hires "security" people from the very same company that causes a lot of the problems. The DHS is already affected and Obama pondered making Scott Charney, head of Microsoft's cybersecurity division, the US cybersecurity czar. Eventually he picked another person from Microsoft for this job (also in [1, 2, 3, 4]):



The White House is naming a former Microsoft and eBay executive as the government's new cyber security coordinator. Former Bush administration official Howard Schmidt will lead the effort to shore up the country's computer networks.


More here:

Obama names former Microsoft exec new U.S. cybersecurity czar



President Obama this morning named a new U.S. cybersecurity coordinator: Howard Schmidt, a longtime computer security specialist who has worked as an executive for companies including Microsoft and eBay, and as a security adviser to the administration of George W. Bush.


How shameful. We have already explained why this is a mistake and when poor decisions are made in the future it may be possible to blame them on bias. One reader of ours wrote in relation to this news: "If they already have the technical knowledge, then why haven't they made a computer that can't be compromised to be used in botnets, merely by clicking on a URL or opening an e-mail attachment?

Also in yesterday's news we now find:

Microsoft AV advice may aid attackers, researcher warns

A security researcher is taking Microsoft to task for advising customers to exclude certain files and folders from anti-virus scanning, arguing the practice could be exploited by pushers of malware.


Microsoft shows malware writers where to hide

In a document published on its support site, Microsoft suggests that users do not need to scan some files and folders for malware as a way to improve performance in Windows 2000, XP, Vista, Windows 7, Server 2003, Server 2008 and Server 2008 R2. "These files are not at risk of infection. If you scan these files, serious performance problems may occur because of file locking," the Vole said.


Microsoft accused of helping virus writers [via]

Security firm Trend Micro has accused Microsoft of giving malware writers a helping hand by advising users not to scan certain files on their PC.

In an article published on Microsoft's Support site the company claims it's safe to exclude certain file types from virus scans because "they are not at risk of infection". Microsoft claims ignoring these files will help improve scanning performance and avoid unnecessary conflicts.


Yes, Microsoft does not seem to have a clue about security.

Microsoft's influence in the United States government is increasing and this is becoming a matter of national security. They spread that so-called "Microsoft religion" to areas that are mostly UNIX- and Linux-based. They ignore many decades of good practices.

"It is no exaggeration to say that the national security is€ also implicated by the efforts of hackers to break into€ computing networks. Computers, including many running Windows€ operating systems, are used throughout the United States€ Department of Defense and by the armed forces of the United€ States in Afghanistan and elsewhere."

--Jim Allchin, Microsoft



Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Nat Friedman Had Left Microsoft GitHub Exactly One Week Before Matthew Garrett Sent His First SLAPP (Which Was an Empty Threat, He Was Abusing the Legal System of Another Continent to Terrorise Critics Who Had Just Unearthed Major Microsoft Scandals)
And it was likely talked about by his lawyers around the exact same time Nat Friedman was packing up
 
Extortion is a Crime, Even If You're Based in Another Continent and Work for Microsoft
reported to British authorities
We're in 6/6 Now, Almost Halfway in 2025
2025 was probably the best year for us
South Americans Are Saying Goodbye to Microsoft
We're hardly even "Cherry-Picking" or conveniently singling out one South American nation
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part III: Data Protection Failures, Just Like at the European Patent Office (EPO)
Just less than a decade ago we showed that the EPO had illegally shared staff data with third parties
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, June 05, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, June 05, 2025
Pushing Microsoft's Proprietary Trash/Trap as "Open" and "Linux" (Windows is 'Linux' Now?)
Maybe it's time to just stop saying "FOSS". The people who use that term are promoting Microsoft.
Slopwatch: Comparing Linux to Vermin, Attacking BSD With LLM Slop, and Helping Microsoft Demonise Linux/OpenBSD/SSH Over Weak User Passwords
Microsoft must be laughing its arse off, seeing how a bunch of Serial Sloppers (no skills, no comprehension, no integrity, no creativity) and slopfarms use Microsoft LLM to flood the Web with anti-Linux FUD
Links 05/06/2025: US Poised for Another $2.4 Trillion to Debt, Cops Want GAFAM Kill Switches
Links for the day
Links 05/06/2025: First US Spacewalk 60 Years Ago, GNU Octave 10.2.0 is Out
Links for the day
Scandinavia Saying Goodbye to Microsoft
The Danes have had enough of Microsoft
GNU/Linux Measured at 6% in Bangladesh, According to statCounter
Windows isn't growing, it's going away
Gemini Links 05/06/2025: Loop Earplugs Review and ANS Forth
Links for the day
Armenian Adoption of GNU/Linux
Russian influence in Armenian must be worrying to Microsoft
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part II: Turning a Once-Respected Patent Office Into a Circus and Laughing Stock
It's not legal, but administrators who don't care about the law and don't fear the law would just go ahead and turn things to junk
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, June 04, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, June 04, 2025
Slopwatch: Mindless Slop Pieces, Fake Images and Text, Linux FUD on the Cheap
spewed out by Microsoft-controlled LLMs
Links 04/06/2025: Workers' Strikes, Sudan Exodus
Links for the day
Links 04/06/2025: Linux Foundation PR Spam and Lee Jae-myung Wins Election
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/06/2025: Future Leaders of the World and Platforming Jordan Peterson
Links for the day
Links 04/06/2025: WSL Backfiring on Microsoft and "Disney, Microsoft Announce Massive Layoffs"
Links for the day
Our Case is a Very Easy Win, the SLAPPs From Microsofters Were a Grave Error, and Censoring Information Won't Work (It'll Only Ever Backfire)
Censoring is what people do when they lose the argument
Say the Truth, the Rest Will Follow
There's no guarantee that writing the truth will result in an audience (or readership), but over time - in the long run - people generally gravitate towards what they know or feel to be crude truth, not just what's comforting (albeit false or self-deluding, usually groupthink dictated from above)
How to Expose High-Level Corruption Without Getting in (Too Much) Trouble
Democracy depends on free press and freedom of the press depends on being able to safely publish (and keep available) material that bad people don't want to be known to anybody
In-Depth EPO Coverage at Techrights Turns Eleven
11 years is a very long time
Windows Measured Below 10% in Afghanistan, GNU/Linux Gaining a Lot
about 80% are Android (Linux) users, compared to only about 10% for Windows
Poland's Political Predicament and Social Control Media
Democracy and fake "tech" don't mix well; the latter tends to interfere with the former and that's why we get more "Putins" out there
EPO: Taking Away From the Staff to Give More to the Rich
The Central Staff Committee (CSC) wrote to EPO staff earlier this week
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 03, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 03, 2025
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part I: It's a Lot Like the EPO
we can commence a series soon
Gemini Links 04/06/2025: Inescapable Questions and Quitting All "Oligarch Tech"
Links for the day