>At 02:26 PM 6/22/00 -0400, Tim May wrote:
>
>>I could be smug and say that I didn't get it because I use Eudora Pro on a
>>_Macintosh_, not that "Microsoft crap."
>>
>>However, "Microsoft crap" is the main target for virus distributors
>>because it is so ubiquitous, and because this is what most Third World
>>Mutants are using. Even those living in the slums of Manila or Bucharest
>>can get access to a 66 MHz Pentium.
>
>That is not the only reason that virus writers are targeting it.
>
>Windows allows any local user the ability to modify ANY part of the system.
>They can delete files, alter the registry, and do whatever they want. It
>has the single user DOS mentality. ("Every user a superuser!") NT is a
>bit better, but still shares a good deal of those DOSisms in regards to
>system privileges. (For example, under Windows NT Terminal Server, in
>order to get MS Office to run the user has to have WRITE access to the
>system directory!)
These same things are true of MacOS (at this time) and IIRC
BeOS. All three (Windows, Mac, BeOS) are intended to be single user
work stations.
What has made Windows the current target is, in part what Mr.
May said--that it is all but ubiquitous, as well as the fact that it
is incredibly susceptible to script based viruses (virii?). MacOS, in
addition to having a much smaller market share, has a higher barrier
to entry for the average virus writer--you have to be able to compile
the code and find a way to get the end user to run it.
With Windows and Outlook, all you have to do is figure out
how to write something malicious.
>
>The Visual Basic scripting holes have existed for YEARS without Microsoft
>fixing the problem. The place I work has spent countless hours trying to
>stamp out macro viruses. We still cannot get them all. The reason they
>perpetuate is due to problems with the software that Microsoft refuses to
>address.
The reason they perpetuate is that companies like yours don't
switch to a less susceptible OS. With the advent of StarOrifice,
there is no longer any excuse for the majority of businesses to
continue to run Windows.
>>I expect that the era of running unsigned apps attached to e-mail will be
>>ending soon. Spider Robinson, the SF writer and computer commentator, had
>>a good piece a few weeks back on how current OSes are "sluts" spreading
>>their legs for any program originating out of the back alleys of Bangkok.
>>This will change.
>
>Actually, that is not true. Most OSes deal with security better than
>that. The ones that do are ones that are made to be "easy for the
Most "desktop" Operating systems do not deal with security
better than that. Most don't deal with it at all.
Most Mainframe/Enterprise/Server OSs do deal with it a bit better.
--
A quote from Petro's Archives: *******************************************
"Campaigns to bear-proof all garbage containers in wild areas have been
difficult because, as one biologist put it, `There is a considerable overlap
between the intelligence levels of the smartest bears and the dumbest
tourists.'" -- Richard Wabrek
