11.02.11
New Flaws in Windows Kernel and the Borderline Impossibility of Post Mortems
Summary: A couple of new posts/articles about Microsoft Windows and what they teach us about this platform’s viability
THE PLATFORM which made “computer viruses” analogous and often synonymous with Windows viruses just keeps delivering and disappointing every time. According to this, the Windows kernel has unpatched flaws with exploits out there. To quote:
The Duqu malware used to steal sensitive data from manufacturers of industrial systems exploits at least one previously unknown vulnerability in the kernel of Microsoft Windows, Hungarian researchers said.
It is without great shock that we also learn why Windows can never be used reliably on a server, which — if compromised — makes is hard to diagnose the cause. To quote a new post:
Imagine if there were 50 PCs, 100, or more. I would be scared to look and see what other errors are occurring on other Windows 7 PCs in the company. Administrators have better things to do, than comb through useless log files. Way to go Microsoft, a quality operating system here with Windows 7. It’s no wonder Windows isn’t used for mission critical appliances, and GNU/Linux is instead. I’m not saying that GNU/Linux logs are the best, but they are pretty good and usually have information that I can use, to help pinpoint the error a little bit. GNU/Linux does not, and I repeat, does not have this amount of useless garbage in its logs like Windows does.
How long before Microsoft Jack appears at the scene to produce some promotional Microsoft comments in ZDNet UK? Usually it does not take long for Microsoft zealots like Jack to do this in that site.
A reader sent us some more links, one about the decline of Microsoft’s Web browser and another titled “Microsoft unlikely to patch Duqu kernel bug next week” (evidently).
“Time [for the] world to choose Linux,” concluded our reader. █
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Michael said,
November 2, 2011 at 6:48 pm
FUD:
There was a time not too long ago when this was largely true – but now a new OS has become almost as malware infested as Windows. That OS: Android. Yes, Android *Linux*.
http://security.cbronline.com/news/android-becomes-top-platform-for-malware-kaspersky-lab-271011
Android becomes top platform for malware: Kaspersky Lab
Oh, and funny how Roy does not mention that I am the one who alerted him about IE dropping to below 50%. Just funny. I brought it to his attention in COLA. Maybe someone else did, too? Maybe not?
NotZed Reply:
November 3rd, 2011 at 12:40 am
You continue to demonstrate a deliberate and offensive lack of reading comprehension skills. ‘made’ is past tense, and thus the current situation is simply irrelevant, however fuddish and inaccurate your take on the current situation is.
So apart from some professional help with your stalking problem, it seems you need some primary-school level English lessons as well, or perhaps a refresher on English as a second language?
Michael Reply:
November 3rd, 2011 at 1:38 am
Insults. Check.
Accusations. Check.
No point made. Check.
Maybe you just wanted to show how angry and irrational you could be?
mcinsand said,
November 2, 2011 at 9:16 pm
Microsoft guaranteed that Windows would be a virus magnet when they welded the desktop to the kernel and then, even worse, the browser and dozens of other utilities, as well. By having a megalithic architecture, a virus that exploits a weakness in one corner can easily own the system. Those decisions may have fended of DR-DOS, Geoworks, Netscape, and a host of other competitors, but they put Windows into a terrible position now. Only Windows has such a security-impossible structure; no other system is so anti-modular. What is hilarious are the cries that Windows is only hit more because of market share, which is pure baloney. Which will a vandal with a stone target, the glass house or the brick fortress? If a burgular wants to break in, would he tackle the building with many doors that have halfway functional locks or a standard construction bank?
This is a major security issue, because so many people use Windows for transactions, for instrument and production control, and economy-critical operations. A well-crafted virus combined with a system so impossible to secure well could set up a country for an electronic Pearl Harbor.
Michael Reply:
November 2nd, 2011 at 9:57 pm
The only OSs where a user has to worry about malware are Windows and Android (Linux). OS X and iOS users have *some* risk, but significantly less than users of those OSs.