Bonum Certa Men Certa

MSBBC Cracked, Canadian Government Cracked, Microsoft Blames Users, and .NET-based Aviation System Crashes

When system crashes can lead to plane crashes

Aeroplane



Summary: Another atrocious week for Microsoft's security and reliability record

"Thanks to Windows’ built-in insecurity, its easy to create huge Windows botnets," wrote the honourable SJVN a few days ago. It is widely recognised that Microsoft is largely responsible for many of Windows' security failings, but Microsoft pressures journalists not to call out Windows using techniques that we covered here before.



MSBBC's music sites have just been cracked and they turned hostile towards site visitors who use Windows. As the report puts it, "other top name insecurity vendors like Sophos, McAfee and even Microsoft's anti-virus tools didn't register the hack at all. That is an appalling detection rate from both free and paid-for anti-virus kits and, as of yesterday, Websense reckoned the anti-virus toolkits were still vulnerable." This is just a Windows problem and someone who informed us that the Canadian government had just been cracked too says that 99% of the systems there run Windows (we cannot verify this claim, but if anyone can, please leave a comment).

It is unclear whether the attackers managed to compromise other departmental computer networks, including those that contain Canadians’ sensitive personal information such as tax and health records.

Once the attack was detected, government cybersecurity officials immediately shut down all internet access in both departments in an attempt to stop stolen information from being sent back to the hackers over the net.


It is obvious what's happening here. A suicidal dependence on poor systems (such as Windows) is a crucial factor that can easily affect national security or suspend emergency services like dispatch of ambulances. The latter new example speaks of Windows viruses leading to a likely loss of lives (although disruption to service is denied by the face-saving officials). What is Microsoft's response to all of this? As we noted yesterday, the company's lobbyist from the government [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13] is trying to blame the users and there are strong responses to it again, such as:

Microsoft Vice President Scott Charney, a longtime advocate of a coordinated approach to cybersecurity, describes a vision of Internet health:
"We broke Windows. It's your problem now."

At least, that's how I interpret his comments. Charney wants to have users pass a kind of "health test" for their computer before they can use web services.

"Security is not a problem that can be addressed fully by individual consumers, or even individual companies or governments. That is what led to the development of my public health model proposal, which calls for collective defense against cyber threats," he said.

Charney uses a public health model to support his new idea. Basically, in order to access web services (say, your bank - or cloud services, maybe even social networking like Facebook) you first need to let the provider run their virus check on your computer. Intrusive? I think so. Would you let a web site run their code (virus scan) on your machine before you are allowed to use their web application? I think I smell more malware coming.


Charney's appalling remarks are also mentioned by Lia Timson at ITWire and Lia's colleague Sam Varghese, who writes:

Passing the buck is a game at which Microsoft is adept. In the computer security industry, one needs to have tons of chutzpah to hold others responsible for one's own security stuff-ups.

The good folk at Redmond possess this quality in spades.

Probably the best example of chutzpah that I can recall came from a young Bill Gates many years ago when the company was getting off the starting blocks. As Paul Allen, the other co-founder, had also taken up a job as head of software at MITs, the maker of the Altair, Gates argued that since he was working for Microsoft only and Allen was dividing his time, he (Gates) should have 64 percent of the founders' shares and Allen should only get 36 percent.

Shortly after the division was done this way, young Bill went to MITs founder Ed Roberts and got a job there as well, for $US10 an hour. Microsoft's culture has always been defined by Gates.

Scott Charney's comments at the ongoing RSA conference are a good example of the blithe manner in which Microsoft tries to force the rest of the world to carry the can for the abysmal security of its products.

The monoculture otherwise known as Windows is in the main responsible for the plethora of viruses, worms, malware, scumware and other such $wares that plague the internet. DDoS attacks come, more often than not, from armies of Windows machines grouped in a botnet.

Sure, there are other operating systems involved too but they are in a minority. A very small minority. Windows is the main problem and everyone, his/her dog, his/her cat and his/her goldfish is aware of that.


Dr. Glyn Moody links to the article "Microsoft has a change of heart on how to keep Internet safe" and he adds: "or how about if Microsoft just wrote some decent code?"

"Will Virgin do the same thing as LSE following this daunting incident?"Yes, journalists too recognise that this is Microsoft's fault, as stated at the beginning. The gullible, weak ones just bend to Microsoft PR agents and deceive the public about it. These are the sorts of people who do the scaremongering regarding "cyber war" so that companies like Microsoft and suppressive regimes can find good excuses for taking more control over people's computers, spying on PCs of Windows users for example.

There is another timely example of the failed design of Microsoft software. It's a major .NET failure just like the ones in LSE (a former Microsoft poster child). Not so long ago it turned out that a plane crash had been caused by Windows malware (with Microsoft boosters blaming IBM in vain [1, 2]) and amid other plane crashes and downtimes in airports [1, 2] it became evident that Microsoft belongs nowhere near aviation. Virgin made the mistake of going with Microsoft and watch what happens:

This latest computer crash, which looks to be as serious as the 2010 fiasco, will place more question marks around the integrity and robustness of the .NET based Navitaire New Skies system which claims to be able to handle load spikes and scale easily as passenger volumes increase.

The crash also raises questions about the level of redundancy built into Navitaire, which is supposed to provide back-up systems in the event of failure.


Will Virgin do the same thing as LSE following this daunting incident?

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

SLAPP Censorship - Part 58 Out of 200: 5RB and Brett Wilson LLP Helped Garrett and Graveley Make Equivalent of GAFAM NDAs Superficially 'Enforceable' in the UK, Using Threats
laziness results in many hours and high lawyers' fees
"A single witness shall not rise up against a person regarding any wrongdoing or any sin that he commits; on the testimony of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed." (Deuteronomy 19-21)
The spouse of Garrett repeatedly points out that Garrett can barely code or can only do so very poorly
Rust People Sabotage Stability for the Sake of a Falsely-Promised 'Security'
Set aside severe performance issues, poor handling of "edge cases", general bugs, lack of compatibility, and even crashes
Huge Strike at the European Patent Office (EPO) This Coming Friday (May 1st)
International Worker’s day
 
Journalistic Malpractice: Helping Microsoft Paint 'Voluntary' Layoffs (Before PIPs) as "Buyouts"
What does this tell us about today's media?
The Man IBMers Regard or Already See as Likely Successor of Krishna (or Next CEO of IBM) is a Slop Fanatic
How dangerously misguided
The Corrupt Lecture the Non-Corrupt - Part VI - Management of the European Patent Office (EPO) Covered Up Cocaine Use, Even Colleagues Not Informed
the self-described "fu--ing president"
Who Controls Fedora? IBM and GAFAM.
Don't for a moment believe that IBM understands GNU/Linux. We are quite certain nobody in IBM's Board of Directors uses it.
State of Slop About GNU/Linux
As the incentive to publish is reduced (competing with slop is no fun), the effort/money invested in stories goes down
Links 26/04/2026: Korean Inflation, GLP-1 Drugs Linked to Cognitive Impairment, Lithuania's Public Broadcaster LRT Besieged
Links for the day
Hopefully Smooth Sailing in OS Upgrade
There are some contingencies at hand
Links 25/04/2026: "Horrible Economics of AI Are Starting to Come Crashing Down", More Restrictions Placed on Social Control Media
Links for the day
Getting Aggressive Suggestive of Loss - Part IV - Shutting Down My Existence
Would anyone out there tolerate such messages sent from burner accounts?
Gemini Links 26/04/2026: Gemini Movie Database (or GeminiMDB) and Star Trek III
Links for the day
Weeks Before Linux Removed Over 100,000 Lines of Code Due to Slop 'Bug Reports' Microsoft Paid 'Linux' Foundation to Advance Slop in the Name of 'Security'
What can possible go wrong? Both for security and for stability.
Tracking Ages of People
To stay "safe" tell us your age
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, April 25, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, April 25, 2026
SLAPP Censorship - Part 57 Out of 200: 5RB and Brett Wilson LLP Made the Garrett and Graveley Particulars of Claims a Lot Like Photocopies!
They seem very much irritated that I speak about this
Links 25/04/2026: Nokia Wins Embargo in Kangaroo Court Where Judges Are Salaried Nokia Staff (UPC), Allison Pearson Defamation Case (UK) Succeeds, Smokey Robinson and "Puff Daddy" (US) Fail
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2026: Weekly Echoes, Gemtext Tables, and Using Offpunk
Links for the day
Corporate Media Did Not Specify What Microsoft Means by "Buyouts" (Layoffs), It May Be Hardly Different From Severance
Time will tell, but investigative journalism hardly exists anymore, so we won't hold our breath
The Corrupt Lecture the Non-Corrupt - Part V - "Diversity" and "Inclusion" at EPO Means Sleeping With Sister of "Cocaine Communication Manager" and Making Them Millionaires
Remember that top applicants or key stakeholders of the EPO are already complaining about a lack of quality
Links 25/04/2026: Fake GAFAM Valuations (Gripping the Market Based on False Accounting), "Evidence Isn't Just for Research", and "Putin Defends Mobile Internet Outages"
Links for the day
Dr. Andy Farnell on Why Calling Slop or Chaff "Hey Hi" (AI) Harm Us All, Except for "Ten or Twenty Rich Industrialists"
"words to avoid"
Internet Trolls Likely Trying to Distract From the Demise of IBM, Problems With Red Hat
there seems to be trolling online aimed at suppressing discussion
Debian Upgrade Coming Up (Soon)
Yesterday we contacted the datacentre staff about it
Getting Aggressive Suggestive of Loss - Part III - Threats From Burner Accounts Formally Treated as a Crime
Countries that cannot preserve freedom from self-censorship are countries where free press ultimately cannot prevail
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 24, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, April 24, 2026
Gemini Links 25/04/2026: 3.4k+ Capsules, Microsoft Layoffs, Call for Nuclear Disarmament, "Internet is Sad and Lonely"
Links for the day
Links 24/04/2026: Zelenskyy Says Ukraine's War Position "Most Stable", Samsung Workers on Strike Due to Pay
Links for the day
Recent Happenings at IBM Reaffirm Rumours About the CEO; He Might be Resigning (or Pushed Out) Soon
If the rumours are true (no, we did not check those tax records for ourselves), it's not unthinkable that IBM is already doing what Apple did months ago
Gemini Links 24/04/2026: Public Reticulum Gateway Node, Smol Computers, and Old E-mail
Links for the day
Links 24/04/2026: Intel Abandoning Computer Freedom (Even Further), Iran Reports That American Software and Hardware Remotely Sabotaged/Hijacked During War
Links for the day
24/7 Wall St. Editor-In-Chief and CEO Calls IBM Is "America’s Worst Big Tech Company", Talent is Leaving, Supposedly Strategic Units Culled
21 hours ago by Douglas A. McIntyre
The Great Wonders of Slop "Efficiency"
Thankfully nothing was lost in the transmission and lots of work (datacentre emissions) got "done"
IBM's Debt Increased Over $5 Billion in 3 Months While IBM Laid Off Many in Europe, US, Confluent, HashiCorp, and Red Hat
An increase of $5,000,000,000+ in debt in just 3 months!
IBMers Expect Another Giant Wave of Layoffs, Talk (and Sing) About the PIPs
The media won't be covering the key facts
Drama at the European Patent Office (EPO) This Week
We'll be covering the EPO quite a lot this weekend and next week
As We Predicted, Francophonie Countries in the EU and Outside the EU Dumping Microsoft for National Security Reasons
We expected Belgium or some other Francophonie place to do so next
Even to Microsoft Insiders It Seems Like XBox Has Already Died or Surrendered to the Japanese Companies
Now the Microsoft layoffs are evident for people to see
EPO Cocainegate Escalates - Part VI - The Strikes Go On and On (Major Strike Today)
We'll be covering this later today in relation to what the Office dubs "ethics"
Absolutely Terrible Journalism About Microsoft Layoffs This Week
7 hours ago by Leila Sheridan
SLAPP Censorship - Part 56 Out of 200: 5RB and Brett Wilson LLP's Copy-Paste Machination for Garrett and Graveley
Here is another straightforward example of their junior barrister overusing copy-paste on his Mac
Getting Aggressive Suggestive of Loss - Part II - Lawyers Are Not "Hired Guns" (and Should Never Act Like Ones)
The matter is being investigated
Nadella is Killing Microsoft. Slop Kills It Even Faster.
A decade from now we'll look back at slop like we look back at skateboards
Huge Microsoft Layoffs Coming Shortly (With Financial Report)
There will be lots of slop layoffs. Be ready. It's a bubble.
Gemini Links 24/04/2026: Data Breaches and Unofficial Gemini Protocol Specification Archive
Links for the day
Microsoft Offers About 10,000 of Its Senior American (Read: Expensive) Workers to be Laid Off
How many slopfarms and media parrots play along?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 23, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, April 23, 2026