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The BBC's Honeypot PC

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the hijack-my-pc-please dept.

Alex Pontin writes, "This article from the BBC shows how vulnerable XP Home really is. Using a highly protected XP Pro machine running VMWare, the BBC hosted an unprotected XP Home system to simulate what an 'average' home PC faces when connected to the internet." From the article: "Seven hours of attacks: 36 warnings that pop-up via Windows Messenger. 11 separate visits by Blaster worm. 3 separate attacks by Slammer worm. 1 attack aimed at Microsoft IIS Server. 2-3 "port scans" seeking weak spots in Windows software." The machine was attacked within seconds of being connected to the Internet, and at no time did more than 15 minutes elapse between attacks.

5 of 344 comments (clear)

  1. Yes but... by Harin_Teb · · Score: 2, Funny

    Did they pass WGA?

  2. Re:Well Duh! by tomhudson · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yes, and every day there are users out there who use the password "password". Was that tested as well?

    I'm happy to report it was, and only 20% of Windows users used "password" as their password, making it only the third-most-popular password. The two most popular ones were "qwerty" and "12345", in that order. The least popular password, with just one example, was "i heart bill gates" - on Steve "the Chair-man" Balmer's box.

  3. Re:Well Duh! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    12345?? That's amazing, i've got the same combination on my luggage!

  4. Re:Well Duh! by ichigo+2.0 · · Score: 2, Funny

    And just to be safe, nuke it from orbit.

  5. Re:Indeed, AC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm sure the hardest part was opening the little plastic bubble that it came in out of the gumball machine. iMacs are safe because hackers generally only target real systems, not Fisher-Price style children's toys.