in case nobody else noticed it, there was a mail worm released today

Thu Jan 29 03:37:09 UTC 2004

Scott Francis <darkuncle at darkuncle.net> wrote:
> I've been wondering lately, after about 10 years of email worms spreading in
> exactly the same manner with every incarnation ... why do you think people
> haven't learned not to open unexpected attachments yet?

Blaming it on end users is one way to look at the problem, but not
a way that will result in a solution.

You should be wondering, after 10+ years of virus laden MS operating
systems, why they haven't fixed this stuff.  Similar vulnerabilities
in Unix, Mac, and other OS were fixed long ago.

They're not patched in Windows because MS doesn't have to.  MS
doesn't write secure code because they are a monopoly and maintain
that status by introducing subtle OS bugs that plague competitive
third party applications.  They don't publish an API for many of
their system calls so nobody can write secure code other than MS
themselves.  They also run as much of their own software as possible
in priviliged mode for performance (to avoid context switching).
You'll never seen any real security from this type of business
model.

> (Note: I really do not want this to degenerate into another rant against
> vendor M;

Sorry for not sharing your disinterest in the actual reasons we
continue to see these viruses and trojans infecting MS and, for all
intents and purposes, only MS operating systems.

-- 
Roger Marquis
Roble Systems Consulting
http://www.roble.com/