Dept. of Homeland Security Says to Stop Using IE 1069
LWATCDR writes "I have been saying this for a long time but now it is offical. From Yahoo News:
'The Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team touched off a storm this week when it recommended for security reasons using browsers other than Microsoft's Internet Explorer.'" In related news, rocketjam writes "According to Wired, the widespread Internet Explorer security exploit last week and CERT's subsequent recommendation that IE users should consider switching to another browser has resulted in a large spike in downloads of the Mozilla Organization's Mozilla and Firefox web browsers."
If it's broke...well....we'll fix it later (Score:5, Insightful)
"In the meantime, we have provided customers with prescriptive guidance to help mitigate these issues."
This translates to a set of instructions for making changes in I.E. settings since the default settings are not terribly good for security. THe MS spokesperson said that a "comprehensive" security pack for I.E. will be out later this summer. You gotta love this. You just cannot make stuff up like this!
Cheers!
Erick
Re:If it's broke...well....we'll fix it later (Score:5, Informative)
Repeat after me: Global Class Action Lawsuit against Microsoft. Bunch of bumbling fubars. And that ain't the only whole they haven't plugged in months...
Re:If it's broke...well....we'll fix it later (Score:5, Funny)
That last sentence gives me a better idea... forget the lawsuit. Encourage their spouses to deny them until those bugs get fixed.
Call it Project Lysistrata.
Uhh... that assumes they have spouses to deny them. If not, distribute their pictures to every singles bar and sweaty-palm dating site, with a "DO NOT TOUCH THIS PERSON." warning.
If they're not plugging holes now, they certainly won't be plugging holes until the bugs get fixed!*
* "or get plugged", depending upon gender and orientation. Deny, deny, deny until the bugs are fixed!
Re:If it's broke...well....we'll fix it later (Score:5, Funny)
These are Microsoft developers. You'd better be distributing those pictures to all the hookers and massage parlors in and around Seattle.
Re:If it's broke...well....we'll fix it later (Score:5, Funny)
Perhaps Microsoft didn't adhere to Global Law and will face a Global Court. In front of this World Court where juristiction is not in any way ambiguous, microsoft shall be cleansed of all the evil wealth it created and be forced to continue to work for free on open source projects.
Re:If it's broke...well....we'll fix it later (Score:5, Insightful)
a) knew of the problems at hand
b) had already proven this was a monopolistic practice because of lack of choice
c) Balked at the chance to remedy the situation after b) was proven true in court, thus forcing numerous citizens to be exposed to risk without their choice or consent
"Willful neglect"?
(FTR: I do not generally approve of a sue-happy society)
Re:If it's broke...well....we'll fix it later (Score:5, Insightful)
We knew better, but we got burned. Now is the time to take responsibility for our actions and switch to non-MS products.
Re:If it's broke...well....we'll fix it later (Score:5, Insightful)
For a while, I have had to have my browser lie to web sites about what it is on too many sites. For the most part, this is no longer needed.
Re:If it's broke...well....we'll fix it later (Score:5, Insightful)
It amazes me that no one has pointed out the obvious:
With their TREMENDOUS market share, Microsoft has a moral (and probably legal) obligation to secure their software and they have failed to do this for years. Entire industries depend on MS software. There is no excuse. Failure to do this is simply immoral and unethical, but we have come to expect this behavior from MS.
Frankly a class-action lawsuit is long-overdue.
Can we can this rubish once and for all please? (Score:5, Insightful)
You have been brainwashed and repeat your little mantra like the good Chinese workers used to parrot Mao's Red Book.
Companies can be the expresion of an ideal, the realization of a dream or the intent to attack social problems. You have companies that have been set up to ensure fair trade of tea and coffee, other companies that operate in a cooperative basis in which the workers are owners and benefit.
In Brazil a well known style of management (like some forward thinking USian companies like Google) support their employees to start their own businesses on their free time using company's resources that otherwise would not be utilized.
Many companies have programs to vinculate them with their local communities (mine is one of them) helping with reading skills, IT skills on deprived schools, and promoting on their employees a culture of solidarity and social responsibility. Many of you don't know, but many corporations have strict guidelines about what is legal or moreal and what is not, and employess are lectured constantly (to the point of boredom) about legal and moral obligations.
There are companies out there that compete trying to put innovative products on the market and not by the shameful "embracing and extending" touted by the greatest megalomaniac of the IT industry.
The companies are what you want them to be, if they only pursue profit without regards for the consequences it is because greedy unscrupulous individuals have been made heroes by their peers, the media and unsuspected Red Book reciters.
Re:If it's broke...well....we'll fix it later (Score:5, Insightful)
My impression is that the stuff being forced onto the Linux desktop is as huge of a bloated and hacked mess as anything coming out of Redmond, and that only the variety and minor market share of any of them is preventing exploits as bad or worse than anything in IE. Though I doubt anything on Linux is as bad as Outlook, but neither is anything else from Redmond that bad.
Capitolism (Score:5, Insightful)
This is what people don't understand about capitalism. If you don't like the product, you don't have to sue, just stop using the damn product.
I really hate this attitude, "the man keeps us down, so lets sue." It makes absolutely no sense at all. Corporation uses child labour to make affordable products, sue them. Heaven forbid you should accept responsibility for it and stop buying their low-quality products. MSFT sells software for too much money, sue them, don't simply use something else. It's no wonder we have so much unnecessary litigation in this country.
Re:Capitolism (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously, avoiding certain purchases only goes so far. If action isn't taken to proactively stop clothing manufacturers from using sweatshop child labor, then they'll keep doind so, forcing everyone else to do the same thing or get priced out of the market. When it's all made that way, what do you do then, build a loom and start farming sheep and cotton?
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:If it's broke...well....we'll fix it later (Score:5, Insightful)
I believe the poster was referring to a company knowing about a severe defect in a product and simply failing to address the issue for a ridiculously extended period of time. It's especially dreadful when the same general problem keeps recurring. For major OS products, when a problem is revealed it is quickly fixed, and the problem *stays* fixed. You simply can NOT say this about Microsoft's products.
So yeah, we have a pattern of extreme negligence on the part of Microsoft. But I guess it can't be helped because they have no incentive to fix it (thank you USDOJ).
Re:If it's broke...well....we'll fix it later (Score:5, Insightful)
Going a little deeper, it's all about risk/benefit. People know the risks of having a window, and feel it's worth it to have the benefits of a window.
You simply cannot say that about the Windoze/IE flaws. Most people have little understanding (even now) of the risks of using insecure software and little or no understanding of how to mitigate the risks. The benefits are obvious, but the risks are still an unknown to most users.
IANAL, but I'm willing to believe that a class action suit against MS could be mounted and might even prevail, based on the negligence of the company.
Re:If it's broke...well....we'll fix it later (Score:5, Insightful)
My windows aren't easy. I can't just stand in my house and determine whether my windows are locked or not. Ihave to walk ove to them. I have to look at the lock. Then I have to actually try to lift the damn window, since the locks are internal and I can't ever remember if "lever to the left" means locked or unlocked. Do I have grounds for a lawsuit if I can't tell if my house is secure?
You seriously better hope a class action lawsuit *never* comes up for this. That would seriously turn the entire software industry on it's head. Where would it stop?
If I'm playing a competitive game of UT2k4 and the mouse driver cuts out, can I sue Logitech for loss of potential profits?
If I'm writing my thesis and the power cuts out, can I sue the Utilities Company for my lost tuition?
If I'm using a statistical package and, due to some bug, I determine that shooting myself in the face with a loaded shotgun has a -0.314159 probability of death, can my mourning relatives sue the company?
At what point does the software manufacturer get to say "Hey, we did our part. The rest is up to you."
It's a very slippery slope.
Re:If it's broke...well....we'll fix it later (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem with that analogy is that the very nature of a window is inherently insecure in various ways. If you can make it 100% (or 99%) secure, it's probably not a window anymore. But there's no such attribute of an operating system and its applications - it is not a given that software is reasonably expected to be insecure, especially a many $$$ operating system. And when there are security flaws that can be fixed and they are left unfixed, that is a heckuva lot more worthy of a lawsuit than windows not made out of "1/4-inch steel".
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:If it's broke...well....we'll fix it later (Score:5, Insightful)
How about the majority of folks who are not using Windowx XP? Can they install "IE SP2"?
Re:If it's broke...well....we'll fix it later (Score:5, Insightful)
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS-IS" WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES....
Class action lawsuits are bullshit anyway. Only the attorneys and the class-leader(s) get any significant money. Everybody else gets twenty bucks after they fill out a mountain of paperwork. I'm glad I live in a state with no class action status.
Translation for the Layman (Score:5, Funny)
This translates to a set of instructions for making changes in I.E. settings since the default settings are not terribly good for security. THe MS spokesperson said that a "comprehensive" security pack for I.E. will be out later this summer.
Translation: After all those horses get out of the way, we'll have your barn door fixed in a jiffy.
Re:If it's broke...well....we'll fix it later (Score:4, Insightful)
* Valenti gets the boot.
* AU sets up a free CA.
* European software patents are being rejected.
And now this... I guess we Americans will have a lot more to celibrate on the 4th, at this rate?
Re:If it's broke...well....we'll fix it later (Score:5, Informative)
Ummm... I don't think so.... here is a link to the US-CERT Vulnerability Note VU#713878 [cert.org] which (I think) is where this all starts. Go right to the bottom (OK, this is slashdot, so I'll cut-and-paste)
Use a different web browser
There are a number of significant vulnerabilities in technologies relating to the IE domain/zone security model, the DHTML object model, MIME type determination, and ActiveX. It is possible to reduce exposure to these vulnerabilities by using a different web browser, especially when browsing untrusted sites. Such a decision may, however, reduce the functionality of sites that require IE-specific features such as DHTML, VBScript, and ActiveX. Note that using a different web browser will not remove IE from a Windows system, and other programs may invoke IE, the WebBrowser ActiveX control, or the HTML rendering engine (MSHTML).
The way I read that last sentence, CERT say you are not safe unless you get rid of the IE6 functionality.
Re:If it's broke...well....we'll fix it later (Score:5, Funny)
Well, at least the DoHS didn't recommend cover your Windows with plastic and using duct-tape to seal the cracks this time...
Bad Bureaucrat! Naughty! (Score:4, Funny)
What's next, a recommendation that everyone stop using Microsoft Windows?
New: Microsox Windlls FU SP7 w/Ubernet Exploiter (a free pile of bugs in each release!)
I have been saying this for a long time but now it is offical.
<Shakespeare mode=Hamlet>: There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the grave to tell us this.</Shakespeare>
Really. How long before the Whitehouse figuratively grabs Tom Ridge by the lapels and tries to throttle him. Such harsh treatment for a huge dono^H^H^H^Hemployer. Oddsbodkins, what next, the GWB DoJ was soft in pursuing the danger of monopoly exploitation of the browser market?
Re:Bad Bureaucrat! Naughty! (Score:5, Funny)
Now he's trying to find John Kerry's phone number to tell him "hey, wanna be President? No problem, you're in...the stuff that happens in November is just a formality, but trust me, my next call is to Diebold to finally tell them who I want to win...just remember to have your guy tell everyone that IE and Windows is the OS of choice now...buh bye"
Re:Bad Bureaucrat! Naughty! (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Bad Bureaucrat! Naughty! (Score:4, Funny)
he just need to update some dll and that's it
Re:Bad Bureaucrat! Naughty! (Score:5, Informative)
http://georgewbush.com was running Microsoft-IIS on Windows 2000 when last queried at 25-Jun-2004 13:05:27 GMT
Its About time (Score:5, Interesting)
Now the pressure is on Microsoft to get their shit together and make IE more secure, or risk losing their commanding lead in the web browser department. Even my dad, who would rather not use a computer than have to start using different programs, has asked me to put FireFox on his system. And my dad's boss, who is quite possibly one of the most computer illiterate people in the world, has expressed interest to him in moving the whole office off of IE onto another browser.
It really says something for how widespread this news is. If I was MicroSoft, I would be scared at this point.
Re:Its About time (Score:5, Funny)
I feel so....conflicted.
They say IE is bad, which is good, but they're big brother which is bad. My brain 'splode now, thank you.
Re:Its About time (Score:4, Funny)
Don't worry! (Score:5, Funny)
Now, how many fingers?
Re:Its About time (Score:5, Funny)
-
Horray for the Department of Homeland Security!
I feel so....conflicted.I know, it's like watching a fight between an IRS auditor and a PETA employee. You just hope it goes the distance.
Re:Its About time (Score:4, Interesting)
Well, they are. According to wired (emphasis mine):
Gary Schare, director of the Windows Client Division at Microsoft, said that CERT's advice had been misrepresented in much of the press coverage.
"Microsoft certainly respects the work CERT does to help protect the Internet and users. Regarding the consideration that users switch browsers, it is unfortunate that the published articles have misrepresented CERT's suggestions, and we are working with CERT to clarify their advice," Schare said.
In other words, Ballmer has probably already contacted Bush to remind him about the terms of his re-election campaign funding by MS...
Re:Its About time (Score:4, Funny)
Of course (Score:5, Funny)
Duh. All our friends at Microsoft need it too.
*grin*
*grin*
Yup, they sure did! (Score:5, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Yup, they sure did! (Score:5, Insightful)
I use Firefox and I *don't* want to see "Optimized for Firefox" or similar appearing on the web.
I want web designers to follow the W3C standards. I want to be able to browse in Lynx as well. I want the blind to be able to access web content. It is for that reason that I don't want Firefox to take 90% of the browser market. If 4 or 5 browsers have roughly equal share, there will be much more incentive for web designers to do their job properly. </rant>
Oh, the irony (Score:5, Funny)
Great News (Score:5, Interesting)
I hope that this also translates into a large spike of donations to the mozilla organization. Firefox and T-bird are teh moh scheezi, and i started using mozilla years ago.
I've donated about $150 over the years, how bout y'all?
And yet from the justice dept (Score:5, Insightful)
Man, this'll be just liek when video games normed (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Man, this'll be just liek when video games norm (Score:5, Funny)
Amazing...BTW, if you haven't used.. (Score:5, Informative)
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Profit (Score:5, Funny)
Rise of the... (Score:5, Funny)
It's so great to see Mozilla rising from the smoldering ashes that MS left Netscape in, only to come back and bite MS in the ass. It's so symbolic, they should change Mozilla's name to "Phoenix" or something.
Huh? Oh. (Gilda Radner on SNL voice....) Nevermind.
switch (Score:5, Insightful)
Firefox's Gestures (Score:4, Informative)
Homeland Security actualy works!!! (Score:5, Funny)
Heh, oops... (Score:5, Funny)
Lynx (Score:5, Funny)
Homeland Security Be Damned (Score:5, Funny)
*pause*
She then asks if our mother uses it. I said yes (thanks to me).
"Ok, install it."
Homeland security be damned, it's the MOTHERS we need to convert.
Re:Homeland Security Be Damned (Score:5, Insightful)
We need to stand up and tell all the family members and friends we're supporting for free - we are, after all, unpaid Microsoft technical support, without whom the users might as well be using command-line Unix - that they can either stop using IE, stop calling us for support, or expect a $200.00 per hour charge, with a one hour minimum per call.
Enough is enough. No more unpaid work cleaning up after Bill. It's like walking behind an elephant with a dustpan and a broom.
Re:Homeland Security Be Damned (Score:5, Funny)
Riiiight... see, if you do that, your family might kick you out of the basement. Not that I would know or anything. Nosiree.
(What, did you think you were good for anything else?)
Firefox will install with 'power user' access (Score:5, Informative)
You should probably find out if IE uses any work-related proxy-server and change that setting manually in Firefox once the install is complete.
Happy browsing!
Re:Firefox will install with 'power user' access (Score:4, Informative)
http://johnhaller.com/jh/mozilla/portable_firefox/
Yeah Right (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Yeah Right (Score:5, Informative)
First a committee/team has to be put together to verify the recommendation not to use IE. Then an alternative will have to be selected. This means another committee/team will have to determine what the alternatives are. Once the alternative web browsers are identified, they will have to be tested to make sure that they are secure and compatible they are. This testing can very depending on how indepth they go and how soon they realize that a large number of military web sites are IE only!! Once a replacement browser is selected, a Plan of Action has to be determined to figure out how the new web browser will be installed and how the completed installation is reported back up the chain of command. Once all of this has been completed, it will then be briefed to the head shed at the Pentagon who will then make some modifications before giving an order that all computers have a new web browser installed.
This doesn't take into account any turf battles that may come up during this process, fixing all of the IE only military web sites, complaints and stubborn refusal from users (IE will have to be completely removed otherwise people will still use it), all of the modifications to the Plan of Action as it goes down the chain of command, the several weeks it will take for each DOIM and unit to figure out how they are going to implement the Plan of Action, DoD civilians.....
It should take the military a few months to install a new web browser.....
Kinda funny... (Score:5, Interesting)
MS to "win the browser war" just in time to have their browser shot down every time they turn.
They had better wake up to this, too... These days, "internet" is about 85% of what computing is about. MS with all their attempts to blur the lines between your computer and the internet, and their flagship web application is poo.
Firefox, Mozilla and performance (Score:4, Informative)
tough to get employers to listen (Score:5, Insightful)
I've been posting news articles like this one around the workplace, but man, is it hard to get anyone to listen. If HQ won't even listen to this headquarters's own IT department, why should they listen to someone in R&D?
Bah. Anyone have any advice on this?
Re:tough to get employers to listen (Score:5, Insightful)
A fix for IE?? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:A fix for IE?? (Score:4, Insightful)
Another recommendation ... (Score:4, Funny)
don't click on links in IE (Score:5, Funny)
"The most effective step that you can take to help protect yourself from malicious hyperlinks is not to click them. Rather, type the URL of your intended destination in the address bar yourself."
Serious for MS (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Serious for MS (Score:5, Funny)
Rich
Keep using Internet Explorer! (Score:4, Funny)
Closed captioned for the PR impared (Score:5, Insightful)
Let's see what we have here.
- First sentance tells us that Microsoft isn't going to try to attack the credibility of CERT because that'd be unlikely to get anywhere.
- Second sentance is trying to blame "the media" for misreporting the story, but the media's working from a primary source that has a section heading called "Use a different web browser". I don't know how you're "misrepresenting" that when you take that as a suggesting to download any browser that isn't Internet Explorer which means Mozzila, Opera, Netscape or any other compeitor out there. They want CERT to take back the recomendation to just stop using IE... that's the only kind of "clarification" that's possible here.
Microsoft clearly wants a CERT retraction. But do they stand any chance at getting one?
Re:Closed captioned for the PR impared (Score:5, Informative)
I don't think the media misreported that.
So here's a question... (Score:5, Funny)
2) Apple is no longer just for coddled sheep
3) Sun is dying
4) Sun is embracing linux
5) Sun is no longer embracing linux
6) SGI is dying
7) ???
8) We might be watching the beginning of the end for Microsoft. Not just in this, but the whole pile of events over the last couple of years. If Microsoft loses relevance, and market share, and withers away...
Who Is Going To Be The New Evil Empire????
I want to know who to unconditionally hate next!!
Lawsuits and whining? (Score:5, Insightful)
As an alternative... imagine if DHS came out and said that a flaw in GM vehicles aided terrorists, and people should purchase Ford and Chrysler vehicles until the flaw is repaired. Do you think GM would immediately start demanding financial compensation for lost sales and market share from the federal government?
Now, extend that to MS, despite the fact that IE is, effectively, free. If the whole thing still seems unbelievable, insert Robert Heinlein's quote about corporations thinking they have an unassailable right to make a profit above all else here. I'll bet good money MS is already preparing the legal briefs for some kind of retaliation.
Now for all the badly designed web sites (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe pigs will fly first?
Just one note Mozilla has one big advantage over Opera and Safari for MS base corportate networks: it supports NTLM.
Ahem, Ahem (Score:5, Insightful)
When monopolists crush the competition, and you have one company with 95% marketshare, that company gets lazy.
It produces shitty products, slows development (compare development now with when they were trying to crush netscape), all the while making monopoly profits.
Thankfully, the GPL seriously reduces the barriers to entry, because it would be DAMN hard to get either Gecko/Mozilla or KHTML/Konqueror/Safari relicensed and 'shut-down', or integrated into the MS lineup.
Mark my words, if there was no one else but Opera, MS would think long and hard about crushing it.
Monpoly bad, folks, m-kay?
A side effect of Pop-Up blocking (Score:5, Interesting)
(c'mon, someone else can do this better than me)
In other news.... when parasites and popups are no longer possible, what sorts of nefarious crap will the nefarious-mongers do next?
What goes around comes around... (Score:5, Insightful)
- mark
To help convince non-techie users... (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.dmiessler.com/reading/ie.html
Criticism of MS unfair... (Score:5, Funny)
windows update at risk? (Score:5, Interesting)
The PR Spin Cycle (Score:5, Insightful)
So the press misquoted CERT? I've read the text and almost everything I've seen is a quote, albeit summarized occasionally.
I think it's absolute comedy that when MS plays hardball, it's just business as usual, but when things swing the other way they can't stop complaining how they aren't getting a fair shake.
Regarding the consideration that users switch browsers, it is unfortunate that the published articles have misrepresented CERT's suggestions, and we are working with CERT to clarify their advice," Schare said.
Translation: We are currently researching ways to extort CERT into issuing a new statement saying our browser is the most secure as long as you don't use the default settings we chose for you. Fact: IE is the most secure browser when completely blocked by a firewall.
Cool, just after a PHB here (Score:5, Interesting)
I objected and got called "Ayatollah of web-compliance" :-)
Mozilla is vulnerable too (Score:5, Informative)
Did anyone RTFM from the Yahoo link. It says at the very bottom that Mozilla is vulnerable too. I use Mozilla myself but it appears that the real culpret is ActiveX which you can install on Mozilla [mozdev.org]. I don't think this plug in will work on platforms other than windows so it's really a platform issue.
Re:Mozilla is vulnerable too (Score:5, Informative)
Uh, it is reported that the trojan only automatically installs itself with IE. For other browsers, you have to download and run a GIF image that is disgused as an EXE with the infamouse double-extension social engineering trick.
Did you read the page you linked to?
link to the US-CERT announcement (Score:5, Informative)
In related news ... (Score:5, Funny)
CERT gave the warning nearly a month ago (Score:5, Informative)
The Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team touched off a storm this week when it recommended for security reasons using browsers other than Microsoft's Internet Explorer.
CERT gave the warning on June 10 [cert.org]. BBC reported this on June 14 [bbc.co.uk].
Informative IE Links - IE Bashing Extraordinaire (Score:5, Interesting)
This browser warning [zesiger.com] page thoroughly trashes MSIE, but every phrase is linked to a news article that uses the exact same verbiage in order to demonstrate that it isn't just anti MS FUD - It's the honest truth. It's designed and maintained for webmasters to deliver to the IE-using visitors to their webpages. You can read the source code for some more information about that. In case you're curious, here's a paste of the text and links that it has - This should prove quite effective with anyone you're trying to convince to stop using IE:
Your web browser - a version of Microsoft Internet Explorer - may not function properly on this website [com.com], and could have a large number of problems [microsoft.com] that allow hackers to hijack it [pcworld.com] with viruses [microsoft.com]. These viruses could be used by criminals to secretly take over your computer [cnn.com], download child-pornography [theage.com.au], or to commit acts of terrorism [channelnewsasia.com] and fraud [guardian.co.uk]. You may automatically update it now [microsoft.com] with Microsoft's available patches, however, there is a possibility that a necessary patch will not be available [techweb.com] due to Microsoft's somewhat sluggish development schedule [ecommercetimes.com].
The US Department of Homeland Security [yahoo.com] strongly suggests [wired.com] that you stop using Internet Explorer immediately.
There are several standards-compliant [webstandards.org] web browsers that you may use instead of Internet Explorer. Please install one of them as a replacement.
If you suspect that your computer is already being used for criminal activity, it is critical that you seek help from a computer professional in your local area. You may also try one of the free web-based virus scanners [wilders.org] that are available.
Re:DUPE!... well, mostly. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:DUPE!... well, mostly. (Score:5, Interesting)
Notice that it's the Department of Homeland Security seal at the top of the document. For our purposes, CERT is a subset of DoHS... it's just that the media is now picking up on the more known name of the larger organization to bring the story to the masses.
True.. but you're forgetting one thing. (Score:5, Informative)
NO ACTIVE X. That means no sneaky little programs in your system.
The open source movement is well on top of issues like this... always have been.
Also, politically speaking, the open sourcers and black hats are cousins on different sides of a moral question. Virus writers and spyware jockeys don't go out and try to attack open source. They know what they are up against. They prey on the weak.
Remember, Open Source is dragging Microsoft down on a mayonnaise sandwich budget. They know who not to mess with.
Now if we could only get Homeland Security to start talking about OUTLOOK EXPRESS, then I would dance a jig.
No... because it is a design issue (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not just that IE is widespread, but its a design issue. If the usage numbers were inverted, IE would still have more exploits because it has some extremely poor design concepts behind it. First, it is directly hooked into the OS. If an exploit executes on the browser, then it is a very short leap for it to execute on the OS. Second, IE has a promiscuous plug-in model that allows nasty malware to execute without enough checks or controls.
What drug was the IE design team engineers taking when they decided to to let (or at least failed to prevent) untrusted program execution? The drug is named "Market-share". They were trying to turn on as many features as possible to capture every possible market. Microsoft made an early design decision to tout features over correctness. It is a fatal defect that now is probably nearly impossible to correct.
Now that MS is re-starting IE development, they should probably do what the Mozilla team was forced to do years ago. When Mozilla first inherited NS-Navigator 4.X, they looked at it and decided to ditch most of it. They started clean with new design concepts. I think MS is going have to do the same thing. The current design of IE is fattaly flawed. It will have to be rebuilt from the ground up with a new security model.
Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Let's turn this around, shall we (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Reality Check (Score:5, Interesting)
Huh? I find it's really easy to make people switch.. the conversation goes something like this:
Them: "Why is my computer running so slow? And Why do I have all these popups when I'm not doing anything?"
Me: "Your system is infected with malware.. I will clean it"
[an hour or so passes as Spybot and Adaware do their thing, and I do my thing with Toolbarcop]
Them: "How do I keep this from happening again?"
Me: "Internet Explorer is not secure. If you use it, this WILL happen again, and there is nothing you can do about it. Oh, and Russian Hackers will steal your passwords and credit cards. The only thing you can do is switch browsers to this new one called Firefox."
Them: "What does it look like? Does it have a googlebar? Will my popup blocker still work?"
Me: "Looks pretty much the same as IE, except Favorites are called Bookmarks."
Them: "Bookmarks! I remember those from Netscape"
Me: "You'll feel right at home then. Google search and pop-up blocker are built into the browser"
Them: "Sign me up!"
[I set IE to high security, add windowsupdate to trusted sites, and install Firefox making it default browser. Remove all IE icons, put Firefox icons in their place.]
I've converted 5 people in the last week.
I have 1 suggestions for the firefox people: Bundle (or at least provide an installation page that opens when you first run the browser with links to install) Flash, Shockwave, and Java.. With those 3 things installed, there is no reason to open IE again.