10.01.09
GNU/Linux Offers Free Security, Too
Order today and get “security” ABSOLUTELY free!
Summary: Microsoft is selling defective software and then offering security separately, stomping on former partners in the process
A BLUNDER has become a publicity stunt when Microsoft managed to pass reality as an embellished version of it. The company claims to have made a security product free of charge. Microsoft not only alienates partners in the security industry by overriding them but it is also getting across the message that security is not an inherent property of its software. The danger here is that if security-oriented companies are harmed, then security is only reduced (monoculture) and Microsoft now has an incentive for making software less secure. It’s what some label “disaster capitalism”, which deals with monetising problems that are unnecessarily created.
The BBC, being as obedient (to Microsoft) as it always is, completely misses the point and markets what Microsoft does as “offering free security”. Here is a more balanced article.
Although one of the top consumer security vendors welcomed Microsoft’s Security Essentials to the market, another dismissed the new free software as a “poor product” that will “never be up to snuff.”
In other news, CNET reports that a “banking Trojan steals money from under your nose”
The bank Trojan, dubbed URLZone, has features designed to thwart fraud detection systems which are triggered by unusual transactions…
There is also this from the Globe and Mail:
According to the study, IT security breaches – everything from viruses to intellectual property theft to abuse by employees – cost the average Canadian organization $834,149 in 2009, almost double the amount reported in last year’s study. The average number of reported IT security breaches also soared to 11.3 per organization in 2009, compared to three per organization in 2008.
Eliminating insecure platforms would help. █
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Yuhong Bao said,
October 4, 2009 at 1:30 am
Yep, I remember when Woody criticized OneCare.
From http://www.askwoody.com/2008/2233/:
“If you’ve seen any of my Windows XP or Vista books, you know that I rake Microsoft over the coals about OneCare. It’s payola, pure and simple: how in the world can Microsoft charge you for protecting yourself from flaws in Microsoft’s software? The day Microsoft released OneCare in May 2006, I bellered, and I haven’t stopped bellyaching since. ”
But they seem to like Microsoft Security Essentials (Morro), partly because it is free unlike OneCare.
From http://www.askwoody.com/2009/microsoft-security-essentials-today/:
“I like it so much that I’ve thrown away my old antivirus programs and replaced them. All of them.”