Hacker Group Targets Firms that Hide Security Flaws
,----[ Quote ]
| A self-styled ethical hacker group plans to counter moves by companies that
| attempt to bury security vulnerability information in order to protect their
| businesses.
`----
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/29/AR2008032901138.html
Sounds like a perfect description of Microsoft, which hides flaws and sometimes
refuses to patch them for years until massive attacks on users force them to.
Some examples below.
Just days ago:
Months-Old Excel Exploit Goes Public
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft labeled CVE-2008-0081 "critical" on Excel 2000, and "important" on
| Excel 2002 and 2003.
|
| Microsoft first acknowledged the Excel bug more than two months ago, when it
| confirmed that hackers were attacking Windows machines via Excel. At the
| time, the company's security team characterized the attacks as "targeted and
| not widespread."
`----
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,143786-pg,1/article.html
Recent:
Microsoft fixes a dozen Office flaws in four patches; all are critical
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft today released its March 2008 security bulletin, which includes
| four bulletins, all deemed critical by Microsoft.
`----
http://www.news.com/8301-10789_3-9891047-57.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Bots rule in cyberspace
,----[ Quote ]
| USA TODAY REPORTS that on an average day, 40 per cent of the 800 million
| computers connected to the Internet are bots used to send out spam, viruses
| and to mine for sensitive personal data.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/03/17/bots-rule-cyberspace
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2008-03-16-computer-botnets_N.htm
Related:
Microsoft quietly tackles known Wi-Fi flaw
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft has quietly posted an update found here. The update
| prevents a Windows wireless client on a laptop from advertising
| its preferred wireless network list to the world at large.
|
| But the update appears to leave open the larger problem, which
| is having your laptop connect to a criminal rogue access point
| with the same default name as one of your preferred home networks.
`----
http://news.com.com/2061-10789_3-6143573.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news
Vista SP1 will contain undocumented fixes
,----[ Quote ]
| Interesting email in today mailbag: “Will SP1 contain undisclosed or
| undocumented security fixes?”
|
| For some people, counting the number of security flaws that one OS has
| compared to another is important because it offers a metric upon which to
| determine which OS is the most secure (personally, I feel that it’s a bogus
| metric, but I’ll let it slide for now). However, many claim that Microsoft
| stacks the deck in its favor by not disclosing a full list of vulnerabilities
| that have been patched by omitting to include those discovered and patched
| in-house.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=1225
Critical Vulnerability in Microsoft Metrics
,----[ Quote ]
| This is a small subset of all the vulnerabilities, because the
| vulnerabilities that are found through the QA process and the vulnerabilities
| that are found by the security folks they engage as contractors to perform
| penetration testing are fixed in service packs and major updates. For
| Microsoft this makes sense because these fixes get the benefit of a full test
| pass which is much more robust for a service pack or major release than it is
| for a security update.
`----
http://blog.mozilla.com/security/2007/11/30/critical-vulnerability-in-microsoft-metrics/
http://antitrust.slated.org/www.iowaconsumercase.org/011607/3000/PX03096.pdf
Skeletons in Microsoft’s Patch Day closet
,----[ Quote ]
| This is the first time I’ve seen Microsoft prominently admit to silently
| fixing vulnerabilities in its bulletins — a controversial practice that
| effectively reduces the number of publicly documented bug fixes (for those
| keeping count) and affects patch management/deployment decisions.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=316
Beware of undisclosed Microsoft patches
,----[ Quote ]
| Forget for a moment whether Microsoft is throwing off patch counts
| that Microsoft brass use to compare its security record with those
| of its competitors. What do you think of Redmond’s silent patching
| practice?
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=527
Microsoft is Counting Bugs Again
,----[ Quote ]
| Sorry, but Microsoft's self-evaluating security counting isn't really a
| good accounting.
|
| [...]
|
| The point: Don't count on security flaw counting. The real flaw is
| the counting.
`----
http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/security/microsoft_is_counting_bugs_again.html?kc=MWRSS02129TX1K0000535
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