Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/12/28

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Re: Widows XP/Mac was Gamma
From: Adam Bridge <abridge@mac.com>
Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2001 14:55:55 -0800

on 12/28/01 4:02 AM, Eric at ericm@pobox.com thoughtfully wrote:

> In what way?
> 
> Yes, I saw that's what the media reported.  Yes, I saw that's what the FBI
> said.
> 
> Windows XP threatens the poor schmucks who buy it.  Windows XP is not a
> threat to the internet.  It's none of the FBI's business.
> 
> 
> Eric

Allowing the take-over of large number of computer systems by any hacker or
group of hackers (I'm using hacker in the malevolent mode not the
description of an adroit programmer) allows wide-spread denial of service
attacks on infrastructure components that make the internet work. Any large
number of computers which can be taken-over and used (as the plug and play
"feature" of XP allows) in this way, esp when connected to broadband
connections, can bring whole segments of the 'net down or profoundly limit
its usefulness.

Think of it this way: what effect did grounding all air traffic have on the
United States? Well wide-spread distributed attacks through unguarded XP
systems (or any other system so exposed) can have the same effect.

Because this type of attack would be distributed in nature, and because it
could happen without the knowledge of the owner of the computer, it would be
difficult to counter quickly and the overall effect on the internet as a
whole could disasterous.

Another, specious, analogy: imagine flooding the toll roads around any metro
area, say Chicago or the bridges in the Bay Area so that cars were unable to
pass. That's what an attack against the routers that make the 'net work
could do. I find the analogy unsatisfactory but the underlying problem: of
being able to flood many different parts of the net with requests is one
example of the kind of disaster the security blunder in XP makes not only
possible.

Can other systems be taken over? You bet, but not in the same way that XP
can. It's just TOO easy in XP. Microsoft didn't think through what they were
doing.

So it's not like making it a federal law to keep your house locked. It's
about putting an easy to take-over system where it can do an immense amount
of harm to the nations economy. Messing with e-mail and other networked
traffic could make a serious mess of things. It's the price we pay for
having the net designed the way it was as a cooperative linkage between
computers.

If Apple had done the same thing I'd have been just as upset with them as I
am with Microsoft. Fortunately MacOS was designed with VERY limited
networking that is difficult to attack and the underlying layers of Mac OS X
are based on FreeBSD which is noted for its security - it's a difficult
system to hack into if set up properly and Apple went to great lengths to
make it difficult to set up IMPROPERLY: for example the highly privileged
"root" or system administer account doesn't exist unless a knowledgeable
user turns it on.

So I would suggest that it IS in purview of the federal government to rap
Microsoft, or ANY OTHER VENDOR, who makes systems with huge security holes
that can lead to destabelizing the internet.

This is a relatively shallow reply, in part because my days as a network
administrator are long behind me, and in part because the issue is
relatively technical. It has been discussed at length on The Register and on
slash-dot.com 

Best regards,

Adam Bridge

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Replies: Reply from "Eric" <ericm@pobox.com> ([Leica] Re: Widows XP/Mac was Gamma)