Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Unveils Open Source Exploit Finder
Houston 2600 sends this excerpt from the Register about an open-source security assessment tool Microsoft presented at CanSecWest:
"Microsoft on Friday released an open-source program designed to streamline the labor-intensive process of identifying security vulnerabilities in software while it's still under development. As its name suggests, !exploitable Crash Analyzer (pronounced 'bang exploitable crash analyzer') combs through bugs that cause a program to seize up, and assesses the likelihood of them being exploited by attackers. Dan Kaminsky, a well-known security expert who also provides consulting services to Microsoft, hailed the release a 'game changer' because it provides a reliable way for developers to sort through thousands of bugs to identify the several dozen that pose the greatest risk."
Does this bombard all exposed functions with garbage data and look for overflows, or does it actually comb source code, look for off-by-one bugs and try to outwit the code by using boundary conditions? It's nice for Kaminsky to praise his pimps, but how does this tool really differ from any of the other leak-detectors and bug-finding tools that already exist?
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
Your comment loses all credibility not so much because of your lack of evidence but because of your use of "M$."
Also, your suicide joke wasn't funny.
Viable Slashdot alternatives: https://pipedot.org/ and http://soylentnews.org/
yeah, FOSS exploits are cuddlier
But strange that in the 20 years I've been using Microsoft OSes, I've never had a virus or trojan or malware. I must be doing something wrong.
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
How large of a programming team do you work with? And how big are the projects to which you contribute code? And what kind of development model do you use (waterfall, Agile, ad-hoc, etc.)?
Shipping a large project with 1,000 bugs might be a perfectly valid decision. Are any of those 1,000 bugs deal-breakers for your install base? If so, how many clients does it affect? Are these "real bugs", or just incomplete/unpolished functions, or documentation issues, or output typos, or what?
And what kind of software is this? Are you building a time & expense web application, or a filesystem driver? In the former case, most bugs will be interface glitches--ugly, annoying, and harmless. In the latter case, even one bug could easily cause silent data corruption.
Remeber what Linus Torvalds said: Release early, release often. Don't wait til all your bugs are fixed before shipping your software, or you'll lose your "market" window. If it's good enough, the early-adopters will understand, and might even contribute bug reports or patches that will speed you up.
So, why doesn't Microsoft produce these tools for Windows, so the mass populace can help identify, log steps to reproduce, and report the exploits? Why are they using their resources to create tools for testing open source software for exploits? It is so they can give windows fanbois tools to create yet more anti-Linux and anti-F/OSS FUD, pure and simple.
Are you retarded? This tool isn't a "find exploits in open source software tool." It's an open source "find exploits in software tool". So Microsoft has an internal tool that they've developed to search for exploits in their software like Windows and Office, but they decided to open source that tool and share it with everyone else. It has nothing to do with Windows versus Linux.
As far as your ridiculous rant regarding Windows and programs running as Administrator, if you actually looked at the most recent versions of Windows, the number of system services that run under NETWORK SERVICE and other less privileged accounts has been increased, and with UAC, running users as non-admin is actually feasible. I don't know if you'd ever tried running as non-admin under XP, but the idea of logging out and logging back in to make a change, or hoping to hell that runas will actually work, just makes no sense. In addition, their work on Protected Mode where IE runs in a sandbox is another example of MS working to implement the least privilege principle.
Microsoft has made *considerable* progress on the non-admin front, and continues to work on that.
Oh, and whoever modded you up for this nonsensical misinterpretation of the tool needs a meta-mod down.
You know, I'm starting to take issue with comments that protest the use of the M$, Micro$oft etc. memes. I know how something can get on your tits - articles that identify companies by their stock symbols is a particular irritant of mine.
But being annoying to a given reader does not cause a comment to lose all credibility. I mean, you can judge a comment by any criteria you choose, even moderate that way if you like. But you and I can't have a conversation either, if at any time you might write off everything I've said because I violated some arbitrary boundary you have. It's like people who dismiss an otherwise intelligent comment because it was posted AC. Again, it's their prerogative, but it makes it hard for the rest of us to talk to them.
And I am not suggesting the comment you replied to was "otherwise intelligent." The comment you replied to was obviously a troll, and should be dismissed for that reason. I would agree that a user who says something like "Winblows" isn't making any kind of lucid point with that act, but he may just be really frustrated for a good reason. Let him vent - he "paid" for that right - then see if he has an actual point.
In defense of the use of M$ etc, I see it as sort of a short hand, like Garry Trudeau would do with politicians. A feather for Dan Qualye, a bomb for Newt Gingrich ... To a passionate free software advocate, M$ is a concise, efficient and - IMO - accurate moniker.
In two characters, the anonymous poster - who is probably Twitter - told us all we need to know about his opinion of Microsoft. I don't think an anti-Microsoft - or anti-Google/Linux/Apple bias for that matter - invalidates anyone's opinion. If it does, good grief we're all doomed.
BTW, I agree with you about the suicide remark.
I don't care why you're posting AC
You mean, "It's from Microsoft! It must not be labeled as open source, even if it is!"
If you aren't saying this, then maybe you can say in what aspect the license doesn't meet the Open Source Definition
.
To a passionate free software advocate, M$ is a concise, efficient and - IMO - accurate moniker.
It's also meaningless, since every business is out for dollars. You might as well say $un too, and same goes for any business with an "s" in its name.
You know, I'm starting to take issue with comments that protest the use of the M$, Micro$oft etc. memes. I know how something can get on your tits - articles that identify companies by their stock symbols is a particular irritant of mine.
But being annoying to a given reader does not cause a comment to lose all credibility. I mean, you can judge a comment by any criteria you choose, even moderate that way if you like. But you and I can't have a conversation either, if at any time you might write off everything I've said because I violated some arbitrary boundary you have. It's like people who dismiss an otherwise intelligent comment because it was posted AC. Again, it's their prerogative, but it makes it hard for the rest of us to talk to them.
And I am not suggesting the comment you replied to was "otherwise intelligent." The comment you replied to was obviously a troll, and should be dismissed for that reason. I would agree that a user who says something like "Winblows" isn't making any kind of lucid point with that act, but he may just be really frustrated for a good reason. Let him vent - he "paid" for that right - then see if he has an actual point.
In defense of the use of M$ etc, I see it as sort of a short hand, like Garry Trudeau would do with politicians. A feather for Dan Qualye, a bomb for Newt Gingrich ... To a passionate free software advocate, M$ is a concise, efficient and - IMO - accurate moniker.
In two characters, the anonymous poster - who is probably Twitter - told us all we need to know about his opinion of Microsoft. I don't think an anti-Microsoft - or anti-Google/Linux/Apple bias for that matter - invalidates anyone's opinion. If it does, good grief we're all doomed.
BTW, I agree with you about the suicide remark.
I beg to differ. If you're so puerile to have the need to use "M$ Winbloze" or "open sores software" in a rational discussion, it seems as if you're trying to sidestep the issue with colorful language. Call things by their name and focus on arguments rather than taking trite potshots.
As for identifying corporations by their stock ticker symbols, it allows to easily differentiate between corporations who would have otherwise similar names(for example, an article talking about the Royal Bank could refer to both RY and RBS) and to look them up quickly and unambiguously.
Jean-Francois Im's blog
How do you know? What tool do you use that automatically detects every rootkit ever invented? I've seen Linux boxes owned, I've seen SGI boxes owned, and I've seen Windows boxes owned. It happens to everyone: even OSX. In fact, given that every OS has had security problems, if your box hasn't been owned, it's because you were lucky enough to not have your box targeted at the crucial moment.
Every time I hear anyone using any system say, "I've never had a virus or trojan or malware," I always think, "there is a guy who doesn't know how to detect malware on his machine." And it's usually true.
I'm not saying you don't know how, but you said a genuinely stupid thing right there. It's possible that right now you're computer has been rooted, covered up, and you don't even know it. Because Microsoft sure wasn't protecting you for the last 20 years.
Qxe4
If Microsoft really wanted to release source in a way that is useful for the community, then they would be compatible with the GPL or would simply use the unmodified GPL.
Oh bullshit. Something doesn't have to be GPL to be useful for the community - take FreeBSD for instance. Demons, GPL zealots are as bad as Apple zealots!
For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".