Eye on Microsoft: John Markoff/New York Times Finally Mentions the W Word in Article on Insecurity
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2009-08-28 01:36:23 UTC
- Modified: 2009-08-28 01:36:23 UTC
Summary: Notable security news
●
Defying Experts, Rogue Computer Code Still Lurks
The program, known as Conficker, uses flaws in Windows software to co-opt machines and link them into a virtual computer that can be commanded remotely by its authors. With more than five million of these zombies now under its control — government, business and home computers in more than 200 countries — this shadowy computer has power that dwarfs that of the world’s largest data centers.
●
Symantec pulls Norton patch after error reports
Symantec is providing a fix for customers who got error messages after a patch deployment went awry for some Norton users, the company said on Tuesday.
The problem started last Wednesday when Symantec deployed patches for Norton AntiVirus 2009, Norton Internet Security 2009, and Norton 360 v3 via LiveUpdate. Some customers received error messages saying that there was a problem with the Symantec Service Framework.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- Ponzi Schemes Are Useful (to Corrupt CEOs)
- Pathetic, corruptible so-called 'media' is bagging bribes to perpetuate the lies about "AI" (slop)
-
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, January 04, 2026
- IRC logs for Sunday, January 04, 2026
- Gemini Links 04/01/2026: 64-bit Addressing and 39th Chaos Communication Congress
- Links for the day
- Windows Was Always the Punchline
- What did we count to calculate taxes?
- GNU/Linux Surges to About 4% in Peru This Year
- one of the poorest counties in America
- This Year Our Adoption of IRC Turns 18
- We have used IRC for this site since 2008
- The Doors Are Closing, Windows Closing Too
- Microsoft wants more vendor lock-in, but at risk that this desire will simply alienate and drive away many users
- The FSF's Program Manager, Dr. Miriam Sabrina Bastian, Left in October to Lead Climate School
- We are not sure why Miriam Bastian decided to leave the Free Software Foundation (FSF)
- Outline of Slop, LLMs, IBM, and Things to Come
- This coming week and weekend will be very productive irrespective of how much "news" gets published by other sites
- Links 04/01/2026: War Without Borders, "Large Hadron Collider Being Shut Down"
- Links for the day
- Links 04/01/2026: US Imperialism in Greenland and Venezuela, "Climate Protesters Face Greater Risk of Crackdown Amid Rising Authoritarianism"
- Links for the day
- 2026 Should be the Year We All Stop Saying "AI" and Call Things What They Really Are
- Don't give anyone the satisfaction of this misguided belief there's any intelligence there
- GNU/Linux at All-Time High in Algeria
- In 2026 it hit a new all-time high
- Online Mobbing (and Worse) Disguised as 'Free Speech'
- People who say they believe in "free speech" have been trying hard to silence RMS and squash the FSF
- A 'Cancer That Attaches Itself' to Bulgaria?
- "Cancer" is what Microsoft called GNU/Linux
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, January 03, 2026
- IRC logs for Saturday, January 03, 2026
- Body-Shaming Using Fakes
- a lot of the people who casually claim "defamation" are themselves defaming loads of people every day
- GNU/Linux "Market Share" in Switzerland More Than Doubled Last Year, Based on statCounter
- GNU/Linux continues its considerable growth
- EPO People Power - Part XXIV - Today or Tomorrow You Should Write to National Representatives (Delegates) at the EPO in Your Country
- Keep up the pressure!
- Red Hat and IBM Layoffs, Staff Kept Quiet About it, WARN Act Skirted/WARN Notices Avoided
- What a terrible company to be in
- XBox Layoffs Imminent, More Appalling Sales Figures Published
- Expect many layoffs in the gaming division
- Slop Still Rare
- So far a good start for 2026
- Gemini Links 03/01/2026: Climbing, Waking Up, and Social Control Media Woes
- Links for the day
- Links 03/01/2026: Growing Censorship, Another US Invasion, and Will Smith 'Cancelled'
- Links for the day
- Links 03/01/2026: Twitter Turns From Disinformation Powerhouse to Production and Dissemination of Child Pr0n, "New China Cybersecurity Law Becomes A Reality In 2026"
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 03/01/2026: Formatting Text for Gopher and Text-only Websites
- Links for the day
- Unverified Claim: Mass Layoffs at Microsoft to Start Around Week 3 (or 4) of This Month
- Let's wait and see if the claim above is from an insider who has inside knowledge
- Firefox Fell Below 1% in Asia
- less than 1 in 100 Web users is detected/assumed to be using Firefox
- Links 03/01/2026: Ryanair Fines and Facebook Misleads Regulators
- Links for the day
- New Record High for GNU/Linux in Benelux in 2026
- If the above trends stand (throughout the year), then we can begin talking more seriously about a post-GAFAM Europe
- In the Search Engine Market, Microsoft is Falling Behind Russia's Yandex
- The so-called 'AI industry' is a boy that cries wolf
- A Year of Relaxation, But Also of Hardcore Whistleblowing
- Expect industrial action some time soon
- The More Influential Richard Stallman (RMS) Becomes, the More Aggressive Attacks on Him (and the FSF) Will Get
- We've meanwhile noticed disinformation being spread in social control media
- GNU/Linux Reaches All-Time High of 5% in Indonesia (Not Counting Chromebooks and Android)
- There are also related events in Indonesia and SUSE in particular seems to have been popularised there
- EPO People Power - Part XXIII - António Campinos Knows He's Extremely Vulnerable at This Time
- Campinos should never have been put in charge
- Gemini Links 03/01/2026: New Organisation System (Notebooks) and "2026 Already Off to an Amazing Start"
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Friday, January 02, 2026
- IRC logs for Friday, January 02, 2026
