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Re: [PLUG] Windows security -- Was: X11 server for Windows
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Art,
I absolutely agree with you overall, but some comments:
In my experience, Windows greatest vulnerability is its preference for
complexity where simplicity would do a better job. I don't think this
is a matter of poor engineering so much as the difficult goal of
satisfying both users and marketers.
Yes, I prefer to see simple solutions to simple problems, and
ideally even simple solutions to complex problems. The last
resort is a complex solution to a complex problem. Too many
Microsoft solutions are complex solutions to simple problems.
This IS poor engineering.
In order to make Windows easier to use and to include some whiz-bang
features in its application products, MS creates some intentional
security holes.
For example, even though I may not have permissions to a certain
directory, an instance of Outlook which I run may have permissions to
write to it. Contrast that with Linux aged my processes do not have
greater permissions than I have directly.
Good point, but bad example. It is common practice in Unix/Linux
for you to be able to run a program that has more privileges than
you do directly. See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Setuid
--Fred
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Fred Stluka -- mailto:fred@bristle.com -- http://bristle.com/~fred/
Bristle Software, Inc -- http://bristle.com -- Glad to be of service!
Open Source: Without walls and fences, we need no Windows or Gates.
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Art Alexion wrote:
In my experience, Windows greatest vulnerability is its preference for
complexity where simplicity would do a better job. I don't think this
is a matter of poor engineering so much as the difficult goal of
satisfying both users and marketers.
In order to make Windows easier to use and to include some whiz-bang
features in its application products, MS creates some intentional
security holes.
For example, even though I may not have permissions to a certain
directory, an instance of Outlook which I run may have permissions to
write to it. Contrast that with Linux aged my processes do not have
greater permissions than I have directly.
Add to that, the fact that in order to create some of these backdoors,
MS engineers had to create a system that was more complex than
otherwise necessary, and complex systems tend to be more vulnerable
than simpler systems.
--
Art Alexion
On Aug 19, 2010 1:24 PM, "Edmond Rodriguez" <erodrig97.list@gmail.com
<mailto:erodrig97.list@gmail.com>> wrote:
> On Wed, Aug 18, 2010 at 5:05 PM, JP Vossen <jp@jpsdomain.org
<mailto:jp@jpsdomain.org>> wrote:
>
>> "Microsoft Tax" = the additional hardware & yearly fees for the add-on
>> software required tlo protect Windows from its own poorly designed and
>> implemented self, while the overhead incidentally flattens Moore's Law.
>
> I am all for Linux and have been using it almost exclusively. I have
> used XP quite a bit.
>
> At a Central meeting once I brought the Windows vulnerability thing up
> and asked what some of the vulnerabilities were. I know there is all
> the buffer overrun stuff that comes up all the time. I sometimes get
> security advisories in email similar to the buffer stuff for Linux
> software. Don't most of the problems come from people trying to trick
> users into running various exe files or installing software?
>
> I ask the question, if Linux were as highly used as Windows, would we
> feel threatened? Would people write software to try and trick us
> (especially a novice user)? Like trying to run some binary file from
> some web dialog box made to look like a system dialog box or other
> trickery to get an exe to run.
>
> One person responded that a major problem with Windows vulnerabilities
> is that many people run as administrator by default. I never thought
> of that before, but it does seem true.
>
> So I guess I am wondering, other than it's popularity causing people
> to want to do harm, what are the major vulnerabilities of Windows?
> How much of the vulnerability is because of it's popularity (not
> design) as compared to Linux?
>
> Again, I prefer Linux, and it's performance and ease, but that is
> another topic.
>
>
> Edmond
>
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___________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group -- http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion -- http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
___________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group -- http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion -- http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
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