NYT: At Microsoft, Interlopers Sound Off on Security ("Blue Hat" briefing)

[DeepModem Mom]

At Microsoft, Interlopers Sound Off on Security
By JOHN MARKOFF
Published: October 17, 2005


....Locked in a struggle with a shadowy "black hat" computer underground that exploits any flaw in its software, Microsoft has spent three and a half years trying to transform its engineering culture to make security the company's priority.

Recently there have indeed been some arrests for computer attacks that capitalized on Microsoft software flaws. But more important, during the last year the company has made measurable progress in improving the quality of its software code, according to many computer security specialists and customers.

That has in effect raised the bar for the computer outlaws seeking to exploit the company's software for data theft, extortion or simple mischief. It now appears that Microsoft can begin to celebrate - a little.

Last Thursday and Friday, the company held its second Blue Hat briefing, a meeting with a small group of about a dozen independent computer security specialists invited to the company's headquarters here to share detailed research on vulnerabilities in Windows software.

Microsoft managers chose the term blue hat to distinguish their outreach campaign from the usual division in the computer security world between warring communities of white hats and black hats. Whatever their hats, those invited here were a group not generally inclined to think highly of Microsoft....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/17/technology/17hackers.html

[truthisfreedom]

1. smart thinking. there's nothing wrong with blue.

we're all blue. 8^)

[unblock]

2. "blue hat" has absolutely nothing to do with "red hat", i'm sure

not a thing.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. Microsoft's big response is to now make a protection racket

Microsoft is now going to try to sell you and business some virus protection software and services to protect you from their own operating system.

They refuse to do what it takes to get the vulnerabilities out. It is like a Mafia protection racket. If this isn't abuse of monopoly, then what is? But of course their friend in the Whitehouse and their lackeys on Capitol Hill quietly quashed the anti-trust actions as soon as they got in power in 2000.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

4. List of MS friends.

http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/vinfodb.html

More at link

W32.Mytob.KU@mm
WORM_MYTOB.LP October 16, 2005 October 16, 2005
W32.Mytob.KR@mm October 15, 2005 October 16, 2005
W32.Spybot.YQW October 15, 2005 October 15, 2005
W32.Mytob.KP@mm
W32/Mytob-EX , WORM_MYTOB.LL October 14, 2005 October 14, 2005
MSIL.Idonus October 14, 2005 October 15, 2005
Bloodhound.Exploit.49 October 14, 2005 October 15, 2005
W32.Rontokbro.D@mm October 12, 2005 October 12, 2005
W32.Mytob.KM@mm
W32.Mytob@mm October 12, 2005 October 12, 2005
Backdoor.Graybird.R October 12, 2005 October 12, 2005
Bloodhound.Exploit.48 October 11, 2005 October 12, 2005
Bloodhound.Exploit.47 October 11, 2005 October 12, 2005
Bloodhound.Exploit.46 October 11, 2005 October 12, 2005
Trojan.DSBrick.B October 10, 2005 October 11, 2005
Trojan.DSBrick.A October 10, 2005 October 11, 2005
Backdoor.Nibu.O October 10, 2005 October 10, 2005
W32.Toxbot.AL October 7, 2005 October 8, 2005
W32.Beagle.CL@mm October 7, 2005 October 7, 2005
W32.Mytob.KE@mm October 7, 2005 October 7, 2005
SymbOS.Skulls.N October 7, 2005 October 8, 2005
SymbOS.Cardtrp.C October 7, 2005 October 7, 2005
W32.Erkez.G@mm October 6, 2005 October 7, 2005
W32.Beagle.CK@mm
W32/Bagle.df@MM , W32/Bagle-AN October 6, 2005 October 7, 2005
W32.Mytob.KC@mm October 6, 2005 October 6, 2005
Trojan.Satiloler October 6, 2005 October 6, 2005
Trojan.PSPBrick October 6, 2005 October 7, 2005
W32.Sober.Q@mm
CME-151, Sober.Y , W32/Sober.r@MM , WORM_SOBER.AC October 5, 2005 October 5, 2005
W32.Comdor.K@mm
WORM_COMBRA.E October 5, 2005 October 5, 2005
W32.Spybot.YCL
W32/Rbot-AQF October 4, 2005 October 5, 2005
Backdoor.Tjserv.D October 4, 2005 October 4, 2005
W32.Besam October 4, 2005 October 5, 2005
Backdoor.Haxdoor.F October 4, 2005 October 4, 2005
SymbOS.Fontal.C
SYMBOS_FONTAL.E October 4, 2005 October 4, 2005
W32.Mytob.JW@mm October 3, 2005 October 3, 2005
Trojan.Spbot.C October 3, 2005 October 4, 2005
SymbOS.Fontal.B October 3, 2005 October 4, 2005
SymbOS.Cardblock.A October 3, 2005 October 4, 2005
W32.Rontokbro.B@mm October 2, 2005 October 3, 2005
W32.Lile.A September 30, 2005 October 13, 2005
Backdoor.Sparta.D September 30, 2005 September 30, 2005
Trojan.Startpage.Q September 30, 2005 September 30, 2005
Backdoor.Novacal September 29, 2005 September 30, 2005
W32.Alcra.D September 28, 2005 September 29, 2005
W32.Magflag.A@mm September 28, 2005 September 29, 2005

[ixion]

5. M$ can just go to hell

They're nothing more than an anti-competetive, ham-fisted coding behemouth who has single-handedly lowered the bar for software integrity.

[McKenzie]

6. where do you want to surf to today?

same as every day...Microsoft Update.

I know the hacker community, whether black or white...or crackers for that matter, have devoted a lot of time to finding vulnerabilities in M$ products. Maybe that's why there are squillions of worms, virii etc out there that exploit vulnerabilities in M$ products.

But Mac OS is rarely affected by virii and they have a reasonable market share. Linux code is open source yet Linux users rarely get affected by the simple exploits that affect MS. Even some script kiddy with a script kit can run the most basic exploit against a big, corporate network running MS software unless the sysadmins have shut the door.

When MS produce an OS (and a browser) that does not require constant "critical" patching we'll believe them. MS have lulled us all into buying in bigtime - I now have so much MS-related software it's be a pain in the wallet, and just a hassle, to have to migrate back to Linux.

Quite apart from which M$ are a lumbering, corporate behemoth who stifle the competition. One small victory though earlier this year - the EU ruled that XP has to be made available without Media Player bundled in but MS don't advertise that widely.

As for being secure...I use "Shoot the Messenger" and "Unplug and Pray" immediately after any reinstallation of Windblows and I rarely ever surf with ActiveX enabled.

Sheesh, I need to get off my lazy ass and go Linux again.