Re: Where Can I Buy a Zombie PC?
- From: NoStop <nostop@xxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2006 19:28:22 -0700
On Thursday 13 July 2006 08:41 am, Ground Cover had this to say in
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general:
To a great extent that is true.<snipping a long "history" of computers by Gound Cover>
You also forgot a few points.
To be honest, I only ever caught one malware -as far as I know
hahaha ... "as far as you know" ... that's a good one.
- and that
was when I ignored a call to install a certain patch for if I were running
Windows 2000 with IIS installed. But, otherwise I had already done some
reading etc. and was not one likely to fall for the "screensaver" in the
email. And since I had been involved with JavaScript, I had decided early
on to turn it off [a bit ironic - I knew how to code it, so I browse
default with it off].
Many of Microsoft's problems, security-wise, is its users.
Typical MickeyMouse shill - BLAME THE USER (victim).
They want
JavaScript ON. They want Java ON .. always.
Can you imagine today's web without javascript?
They want ActiveX ON.
This is a MickeyMouse "innovation" and shouldn't be allowed on the Web.
Vulnerabilites get identified and patched, but the user .. the user wants
to see the dancing bunnies - at all costs - and there's not much can be
done.
These same users will undoubtedly be flocking to Vista as it will offer
dancing bunnies and not much else.
A PC owner has the right to run as root.
The Windoze XP installation routine does this by default. Why did
MickeyMouse do this? Probably doesn't make that much difference as Windoze
isn't a true multiuser operating system to start with.
The install routine canAbated?
make "users" but at some point the software company has to "hand over the
keys" so to speak. Yet there's no requirement that the PC owner have ever
read even a
magazine article on how to run the thing ..
.. Anway, the storm has abated somewhat.
http://www.thehostingnews.com/article2057.html
"Malware, Worms and Viruses, Increase 240% in 2005
News
Glendale, California - (The Hosting News) - February 22, 2006 - Internet
security and virus alert company, PandaLabs, is reporting a 240% increase
in the number of new malware specimens detected in 2005. In all, over
46,000 new threats, including viruses, worms, Trojans, bots and other types
of malware, were detected in 2005, compared to 13,000 threats detected in
2004. "
"Therefore, by the end of this year, the number of new variants detected
could exceed 100,000, which is more than the computer threats detected in
the previous 20 years."
ALL directed at Windoze boxes, btw. Because they're so easy to target!
Rootkits are the up and coming means of attack. Here's a rather interesting
article:
http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/Article.aspx?liArticleID=215403&liFlavourID=1
"Huge increase in Windows-targeted stealth malware
by Tash Shifrin
Tuesday 18 April 2006
Security experts have warned of a 700% rise in reports of rootkits ? malware
that actively conceals its existence using stealth technology ? over the
past year.
The most dramatic rise has been in rootkits targeted at Windows systems,
security firm McAfee said in a white paper, with the number of
Windows-based malware stealth components shooting up by 2,300% between 2001
and 2005.
Over the same period, the number of Linux-based rootkits has fallen to a
?negligible number?.
McAfee said the open source environment, online collaboration sites and
blogs were ?largely to blame for the increased proliferation and complexity
of rootkit components?.
It added that malware authors found the Windows platform ?an attractive
target? because of its huge installed base and the technical challenges it
posed.
Rootkits are also becoming more far more sophisticated, the white paper
said. Stealth technologies have moved from Trojans to other forms of
malware and potentially unwanted programs (PUPs).
The complexity of rootkits had increasing by 400% between 2000 and 2005, but
then shot up by 900% over the past year. "
XP SP2 was released. The number of extememe vulnerabilities discovered in
Windows this past year is way fewer than say found in 2004. Many users are
much more circumscript in their behaviour. And Linux still hasn't found
the vendor support it needs for to "take the desktop" [and it probably
never
will]
Your wishful thinking. Linux certainly won't replace Windoze soon, but there
certainly is a growing user-base of new Linux users who have left Windoze
behind because they are sick and tired of the constant insecurities posed
by the toy operating system. Suse is now ready for the desktop without
question and has the support of a major player. IBM has invested $1 billion
into Linux. Believe it or not, Linux is no longer what it was just a few
years ago. Today it is an ALTERNATIVE to the Windoze desktop.
so Microsoft - not having to look over its shoulder- has been
taking its time with Vista.
Vista will try - and will probably succeed - to rectify the security
situation through an alert system [and without fanfare, running some of
software e.g. Internet Explorer with only user privileges even if an
Adminstrator is logged on]. Vista will probably substantially reduce the
impact of malware much further than XP SP2.
Personally I have my doubts because with 50 million lines of source code,
the vaste majority coming from earlier versions of Windoze, it doesn't look
to be anything more than XP with new eye-candy. But, the proof of the
pudding will be in the eating. Let's revisit this particular discussion say
6 months after Vista is released and see how successful MickeyMouse will
be.
So there you have it. No matter what Microsoft or Linus Torvalds does,Linux users tend to know better and some distros go out of their way to
someone is going to log on as "root", regardless, and run
/bin/dancing_bunnies and there's nothing anyone can do about it.
discourage ordinary users from running as root. Eye-candy on its own does
not lead to more insecurity if the underlying operating system itself is
constructed to keep the operating system separate and apart from the user
space. The POSIX model does this. The Windoze model does not.
But with firewalls and care and Vista, the rest of us have a better chanceYour blind faith in Vista is a bit funny to contemplate, but expected from a
at mitgating the impact.
MickeyMouse shill I guess. As I said above, let's revisit this topic down
the road when Vista has had a chance to expose itself to the Net for a
while. :-)
Grumpy wrote:
Ground Cover
"Windows" OS has world dominance in business and home
computing not because it is superiour technically to other
OS's such as Mac, UNIX, Linux, FreeBSD, etc..., for indeed
it is inferior technically because it is a DOS based OS, even
although DOS is a powerfu language, but Windows
dominance is because MS and Bill Gates in particular were
very cleaver from the beginning in getting the hardware
companys on board from day one, and providing business
with a support structure, that often lacks to this day in other
OS's, business needs certainty in IT operations that is what
MS offered, some might say but did not deliver all that well.
Lets look at the Sony HomeBetaMAX (beta) and Victor
Company of Japan (JVC) VHS format battle in the home
video tape battle. The reasion why VHS won over BetaMAX
(Beta) was simply that JVC signed up more hardware
manufacturers than Sony did. The fact that VHS has a
simpler tape transport control system, helped of course, but
ultimately the share weight of hardware manufactures using
the VHS format won the day. To this day we all know that
BetaMAX (Beta) is technically superior especially when
using flying head insert editing, etc. but VHS have over the
years managed an increase in tape transport control and
included acceptable insert editing.etc.
OP was pointing out that many home PC are under "Alien"
control and sending spam, etc to an unsuspecting world.
This is a fact and most disturbing is that these innocent little
home PC's may often be involved is very nasty operations
without their owners knowledge.
"online security" at present and into the forseeable future,
there really is no such thing.
"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance"
Remember never trust a computer they have no morals.
Watch out for the "Zombie" Computers they are everywhere.
"Ground Cover" wrote:
Q. What wastes ones time and annoys for no good reason?
A. Linux guy who doesn't know where to post.
Q. If Linux is "so great" why are you spending your time at
msnews.microsoft.com ??
A. Because Linux isn't all that great.
Q. If Linux is so great why doesn't everyone adopt it?
A. Because linux isn't all that great.
Q. Where shoud a Linux Advocate post advocacy?
A. A Linux Advocacy newsgroup.
Now, quit trolling and go do something useful like helping someone
who depended on the Linux Apache combo and now who's websites are
hacked. Perhaps you might help them migrate to Windows Server 2003.
--
WGA is the best thing that has happened for Linux in a while.
The ULTIMATE Windoze Fanboy:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2370205018226686613
Is this a modern day equivalent of a Nazi youth rally?:
http://www.ntk.net/media/developers.mpg
A 3D Linux Desktop (video) ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUSn-jBA3CE
View Some Common Linux Desktops ...
http://shots.osdir.com/
.
- References:
- Where Can I Buy a Zombie PC?
- From: NoStop
- Re: Where Can I Buy a Zombie PC?
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- Re: Where Can I Buy a Zombie PC?
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