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Microsoft to Ship New Malware Protection Utility
LadyDarth writes "Microsoft introduced on Thursday a new program called Client Protection that will help to combat viruses, maiware and spyware in the corporate environment. Paul Bryan, product management director in the enterprise security division at Microsoft, said in an interview with BetaNews Wednesday night that Client Protection's aim is to 'make sure people have fewer security products' to concern themselves with. Responding to concerns that it was stepping on its partners toes, Bryan admitted that Microsoft has 'knowledge and an understanding of the capabilities of the operating system' that its partners may not have. But he said that information would not be hidden."
more Claria shananigans on the way then?
That should be "Microsoft to Ship New Malware, Protection Utility".
Will it clean explorer.exe from my system?
Could just be all a rumor...
Right here :-)
They were supposed to document all api's and make them available. Anyone think he's referring to something else besides hidden api's?
Great, more microsoft software that people can exploit.
(of course, I am making assumptions based on the premise that it will be connected to the 'net for updates)
Am I open minded towards open source, or closed minded towards closed source?
in one sentence he is stating ms knows something about windows that no one else does, in the second he is stating they aren't hiding anything. it can only be one or the other, not both. i'm very inclined to think it's the first. they haven't documented jack shit in order the maintain their strangle hold and put the rest of the industry out of business.
If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
. . . as opposed to their malware production utility I suppose?
Love them or hate them, a Microsoft OS is at best a Rube Goldberg device of an operating system. I think that is one of the reasons why MS OS's slow to a crawl after a period of time, or at least seem to.
Look at the average Windows system that has not had a rebuild in a year or more. More than likely, the system tray at the right stretches halfway across the screen when it is expanded. There's virus protection, a personal firewall, spam protection, etc. etc. etc.
Now we have another protection racket (err, application) from Microsoft to protect us from what is ultimately Microsoft's fault: an operating system that at it's core was designed in such a way that security was an afterthought.
So, we have words of Microsoft's plans to have more protected kernel. Of course, because it is Microsoft, that means you will need to use Microsoft's apps, or their approved vendors, Microsoft approved hardware, etc. etc. Trusted computing? Sure -- Microsoft can trust you to fill their profit stream after you install their secure OS.
Instead, why doesn't Microsoft use the principles of Occam's Razor and not let applications have direct access to the kernel? Why not have an equivilant of chroot that works well? Why, at the core, give so many holes for applications, good or bad, to wreak havoc on your computer?
Gee, sounds like a mind-numbingly simple idea. I guess it has many names, but they all end in "nix." (BSD excepted, but you get the point.)
Client Protection's aim is to 'make sure people have fewer security products'
Sounds like a monopoly practice to me.
And Paul Bryan is right when he suggests that it would be a good idea to "make sure people have fewer security products". And the very best way to do that is to switch to a more secure platform. Then you don't need additional security products to solve the problems that should have been solved during platform design. Sheesh.
Parity: What to do when the weekend comes.
So does that mean it will protect mt PC from Windows Vista?
It depends on how intrusive it is. If it's something like windows xp firewall that was activated in SP2, then it could be useful for lots of users who wouldn't know to install something like adaware or spybot s&d.
Unpretentious Sydney reviews by unqualified Sydney reviewers
So which distro will it be?
Blog via SMS text messaging
Anyone have any "Official" links, I can't find anything on Microsoft's site, MSDN Subscriber Downloads or via Google.
At this point I call bull, especially since if it was a Microsoft announcement it would be easy to find. . .
I have to wonder, if anything Microsoft creates really is just insanely resource dependent because they don't know any other way.
"We defeat spyware by using up all the available memory and denying it resources!"
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
I thought the headline meant that MS was shipping another "Protection Utility" that was, in reality, malware.
:->
And my response to that was "This is news?"
"Evil men obsessed with ambition and unburdened by conscience must be taken very seriously" - George W. Bush
Hopefully MS can rid my computer of any that nasty questionable software, backup DVD or CD data or anything the FBI doesn't approve of.
Rich Gentlemen Hide - The Existential Comic
You could simply have summed it up as "Better Development Practices"
Many of the loopholes are left between divisions, which get along with considerable friction. There was supposed to be, as part of the Trusted Computing initiative, a real effort underway to get department heads to work better together. Who knows how successful that's been. Seems I already saw something about Vista worms or virii already making the rounds. If true then these people really are a bunch of crackpots.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Malware Protection Utility was misread as Malware Production Facility.
My mistake.
Mozilla, opera, firefox, apache, tomcat...etc. Java will be removed and replaced by ActiveX-based emulation.
-AT
Working in a DevOps shop is like playing in a band made up entirely of keytarists.
I thought it was 2015, it's been moved up? When was this?
"In the year 2010: William Gates Jr. announces to great fanfare, Microsoft Linux! Both of their remaining customers applauded with guarded enthusiasm."
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
But wait, there's more! Act fast and for only another $292.99 I'll throw in the bottom part so your bowl will actually hold something! (no warranty is given on "bowlsealer add-in®" product - void where prohibited)
Buy now and I'll throw in the installation free!
"As far as I'm concerned, I prefer silent vice to ostentatious virtue." ~A. Einstein
There are two anti-malware apps I can personally recommend: Linux and Mac OSX.
That's Bigboo TAY! TAY!
Knowledge and Understanding doesn't imply that they've got secret hooks that they're using. Let's face it ... if you build something, you probably know it better than anyone else, including what's good and what's bad ... and where potential problem-spots are. I don't think it's too far fetched to assume that Microsoft is likely to have a better understanding of their software since they created it. It's just the way it is.
... certainly many have, and will continue to do so.
That's not to say that other firms haven't taken steps beyond where Microsoft has traditionally gone in order to sell products to secure Windows
Douglas Adams
Didn't we already have this in the form of the "deltree" utility? Oh yeah, they took that out.
who glanced at the title and saw "Microsoft to Ship New Malware"... and didn't find the title unusual or remarkable?
wants to be the first monkey to touch the monolith
An offer you cannot refuse ! ....visions of Ballmer as the Godfather )
(
I think you mispunctuated "Microsoft to Ship New Malware : Protection Utility".
--
make install -not war
Wow, that sounds just like that skit from Conan OBrien...
Don't use the Troll mod just because you disagree with me.
"I'm gonna make an offer you can't refuse!!! Woo! I LOOOVE THIIIS COOMPANYYYEEE!!1!oneplusetotheipi "
You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
Why the hell would I want a utility that protects malware? That's just so Microsoft...
Don't those usually draw charges under your RICO Act ?
right! right?
Of Code And Men
46 replies as of this post, a good 75% look to be the same trollific MS bashing that passes for wit on /. these days.
Proud member of the American Non Sequitur Society. We might not make much sense, but boy do we love pizza!
So, given that it is the hacker who is demonized for costing businesses billions and not the shitty programming, Microsoft can actually get away with selling virus protection programs, directing people to partners' sites who sell anti virus ware, or in this case bundling it with their next OS and marketing the software with the edge of having this high security from the evil doers. The whole deal works out great for the chip makers, the programmers, earnings reports, and of course the gross domestic product. This is capitalism at its best my friends. One more thing I gotta say, get your net install iso of debian (i386 arch)here.
Why can't they just make one tool that protects against spyware, malware, viruses, etc. so the average home user doesn't have to concern themselves with it? That's not to say force it with the OS, but make it one program instead of having two or three running at once (God knows antispyware is a resource hog on its own..)
This message will self-destruct in 5, 4, 3...
Microsoft has 'knowledge and an understanding of the capabilities of the operating system' that its partners may not have. But he said that information would not be hidden
Am I the only person who wishes that they would hide some of their flaws. Maybe the ones that let people delete all my stuff!
Microsoft to ship new Malware Production Utility, codename Vista.
Vista, Microsoft's innovative new Malware Production Utility, allows partners and advertisers to easily create Malware with their "easy to use" software development toolkit and utilities.
Vista is guaranteed to provide you with a lower standard of security, and the slow system response you have come to expect from the Microsoft product line. Microsoft claims Vista will increase your chances of a "sensitive information leak", while providing the end user with a lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) than Linux. Microsoft expects Vista will be ready for production, and will begin shipping August 2010.
/^([Ss]ame [Bb]at (time, |channel.)){2}$/
you ought to wait and see what they throw at themselves. Yes, they know their internals better than symantec, MacAfee etc etc and yes, they know what those internals will be 4 years from now. But given the way Microsoft has of leaving holes, if not doorways, in what should be functional partitions between operating system kernal, applications, communications stacks, languages, debug/development environments and user privelege management, I would bet ANY solutuion that really worked better than the confederation of antivirus and antispyware I now run would either add complexity to the the user's experience or reduce some of the functionality that was based on execution that could jump through those holes and doors.
Go ahead Microsoft, impress me.
We just have to see their product. [and yes, it I too see it as a way to reduce market share for AV vendors.]
SLASHDOT: news for people who can't concentrate on work or have no life at all and got tired of yelling back at the TV.
You do realize that the Bill Gates of Microsoft is Bill Gates III, don't you?
This is a utility that protects malware from virus scanners and the like.
I hope Microsoft will not strike further deals with Spyware companies. The regular Microsoft Anti-Spyware actually excludes a certains spyware (I cannot remember the name) because the spyware company struck a deal with Microsoft to not include the software in the scan.
Microsoft will probably not be so brazen as to sign deals with Malware companies in their corporate software.
They stop the immediate bleeding.
There is an immediate problem that needs an immediate solution. If you want to tell your customers to just deal with the spyware while you design the next generation, secure by design, operating system, then I'd love to see how long you stay in business.
On one hand, you have an easy to use OS that is prone to malware and spyware when not administered correctly.
On the other hand, you have an OS with a higher learning curve that is less prone to malware and spyware, but that requires the same level of expertise as it does to keep a Windows system free of the garbage that can easily plague a system.
In either case, it is up to the user to be more knowledgable about the product their using. I'm not going to pretend that I don't use Windows, but I can honestly say that in the year and a half since I last formatted, I still have yet to find any spyware, malware, or virii hiding on my system ... my system tray is still as bare bones as it was after installing Windows ... and, my computer still runs just as well and as fast as it did after reformatting. Now, with a CS degree, I consider myself slightly more knowledgable than the average user, but this doesn't negate the fact that it is possible to run Windows without compromising your system. You just have to have a clue as to what you're doing and know better than to visit questionable sites and click 'yes' to every dialog box that pops up and wants to install 'XXX Dialer' on your system.
I don't know if there is an easy solution, other than to make Linux or OSX or another more secure operating system more simple to use - and you can go ahead and tell me that your Grandmother runs Linux and has no problems, but the ordinary computer user is looking for more than a glorified Internet/Email machine.
Could Windows be more secure? Yes. Definitely.
Could Linux be easier to use? Yes, and just as equally so.
Isn't this what the mafia did? Beat people up, have their businesses burned down, and then offer protection for a 'moderate' fee..
1. Beat people up
2. Offer them protection from bullies
3. Profit!
The reason girls and Windows users don't understand UNIX is because all the documentation is in Man files.
In a related news story a small number of early adopters of Microsofts new malware protecton utility reported problems installing something called grub on some systems. The vast majority of users reported initial confusion with new menus and utilities being loaded on their systems. The renaming of Word to oowriter probably caused the most confusion. Most users were already familiar with Firefox having switched to this more secure browser in the past from Internet Explorer.
Rumors are that the new malware protection utility may actually be based on linux. This is seen as a surprising move by Microsoft since linux was long considered an upstart rival to Microsoft.
Early reports are that systems using the new malware protection utility indicate that systems are more secure and require fewer reboots.
Hmm I wonder what a Windows Malware detector scan will reveal.. Malware Detected: Microsoft Windows Microsoft Office Microsoft Internet Explorer Please please the repair button to format the hard drive and install Linux.
Is it just me? Or has there been less mention of TCO between MS v Linux...
Protection money. The last time I heard mob members were arrested for these practices.
Would it happen to be called Firefox? That product seems to stop most malware I find.
I think all this demonstrates is that to MSFT you're not just a customer, you're a revenue stream! And MSFT users just keep taking it. It's amazing.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
run the windows network behind a linux box without a default route(so they cant talk to anything outside the local network).
anyone who wants to access the internet can run apps off the linux box with X11. make an alias to a bat file on the users desktop for the icon, (you can set properties and change the icons on an alias, as opposed to the bat file itself) they click on the big blue 'e' and they dont need to know that firefox is actually running from a differnt machine and only displaying in front of them.
ive been doing this recently in various ways, usually involving ssh (putty or openssh). a few years ago it was with just the ssh and xfree86 that came with cygwin. there are many X servers for windows, ill let you figure out which X server you like. putty is actually kinda slow (but otherwise, great), all the openssh for windows projects i see are repackaged bundles of cygwin, but they work.
and, of course, theres NX...
the easiest way to do sound is simply plug the speakers into the linux box. i guess you could use esd (theres a java one and the NX one, see above) or some similar noise redirector but so far, no ones asked for noise, and speakers in the linux box work fine for my own use, so i havent really looked into it.
if you want to make uploads/downloads easy, just use samba to make a shared folder.
the included openssh and X11 on a mac way outperforms any X server ive tried on windows, even the big apps feel local over ssh over wifi(802.11g).
of course, this is for "knowledge worker" offices and the like. its the last thing youd want in a design / fx / game studio for example. users in such environments tend to take care of themselves anyway.
but for networks where this does work, security is pretty tight...
laptops are still an issue...
Surprised it's made it this far without the proofreading community commenting on maiware.
Yes, *that* Bob Vila.
"a new program called Client Protection"
And, I've already been asked if this will run on Linux.
Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
Isn't this the fault of the engineering in the product then? If this was "something else", like a manufactured product, we'd be screaming blood murder that the part failed due to bad engineering. A properly engineered thing takes into account, as much as feasibly possible, the ways it will be stressed and abused to make it as robust as possible. People buy manufactured things assuming most of the time it is going "to work until it is broken". But not on Windows! We assume the brokenness is built in. In fact we plan on it by buying up all of these security products. What in the world??! How did we end up here?!?
What a loopy situation: We as consumers are happily buying something that is expected to not work as described. Why can't Microsoft engineer Windows to be far more fault tollerant? Heck why are we even assuming they can build a security product if they can't make Windows more fault tollerant??
Abuse is knowingly using the system in a way that is destructive. If someone accidently clicks a link in an email and downloads who knows what, that is not abuse unless anyone wants to show how "click links" is outside the normal course of actions on a modern desktop OS. So why is this the user's fault instead of Microsofts?
Bryan admitted that Microsoft has 'knowledge and an understanding of the capabilities of the operating system'
Then why the hell do that make it so easy for the typical user to get owned? "We know how to defend against all this virus stuff, we've just chosen not to." What kind of foolish admittance of felonious lack of due diligence is THAT?!
For the 20year sysadmins trying to do damage control and convince us how secure this glorified interrupt handler is, I said TYPICAL user.
Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
Could use some work
It's called fdisk.
Worms exist for Windows not because it is more or less insecure than anything else. They exist because it is the biggest target and therefore people put more time into figuring out how to attack it. ... If some flavour of Linux were the #1 operating system we'd see more worms for it.
Your words. Worms. W. O. R. M. S. You claimed Windows has worms because it's more popular, I refuted this claim.
And calling people a "cocksmoker", whatever that means, is surely a way to pretty much destroy any credibility as a professional you may be trying to claim here. Next time try actually attempting to answer the argument.
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.