Nato warns of strike against cyber attackers

JC Dill jcdill.lists at gmail.com
Wed Jun 9 18:29:36 UTC 2010


Larry Sheldon wrote:
> On 6/9/2010 08:05, Chris Adams wrote:
>   
>> Once upon a time, JC Dill <jcdill.lists at gmail.com> said:
>>     
>>> I'm still truly amazed that no one has sic'd a lawyer on Microsoft for 
>>> creating an "attractive nuisance" - an operating system that is too 
>>> easily hacked and used to attack innocent victims, and where others have 
>>> to pay to clean up after Microsoft's mess.
>>>       
>> Many of the problems are PEBKAC, as evidenced by the massive responses
>> to phishing scams.  I can't tell you the number of our users that have
>> sent their password to Nigeria to be used to log in to our webmail and
>> spam.
>>     
>
> In other words, if somebody is going to handle the problem, the people
> that know how ("ISP's" for want of a term) are going to have to do it.
>   

Yes, ISPs are going to have to "handle" the problem.  But, IMHO the root 
cause of the problem starts in Redmond, and ISPs should sue Redmond for 
the lack of suitable security in their product, rendering it an 
attractive nuisance and requiring ISPs to clean up after Redmond's 
mess.  It's not fair to expect ISPs to shoulder this burden, and it's 
not fair to pass on the cost to customers as a blanket surcharge (and it 
won't work from a business standpoint) as not all customer use 
Microsoft's virus-vector software.  And it's not really fair to expect 
the end customer to shoulder this burden when it's Microsoft's fault for 
failing to properly secure their software.  But end user customers don't 
have the resources to sue Microsoft, and then there's that whole EULA 
problem.  

ISPs who are NOT a party to the EULA between Microsoft and the user, but 
who are impacted by Microsoft's shoddy security can (IMHO) make a valid 
claim that Microsoft created an attractive nuisance (improperly secured 
software), and should be held accountable for the vandal's use thereof, 
used to access and steal resources (bandwidth, etc.) from the ISP thru 
the ISP's customers infested Windows computer.

jc





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