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Microsoft Releases Super-Secure XP to US Air Force

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the true-security-through-obscurity dept.

Wired is reporting that Microsoft is releasing the most secure version of Windows XP ever created, but only if you are the US Air Force. "The Air Force persuaded Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to provide it with a secure Windows configuration that saved the service about $100 million in contract costs and countless hours of maintenance. At a congressional hearing this week on cybersecurity, Alan Paller, research director of the Sans Institute, shared the story as an template for how the government could use its massive purchasing power to get companies to produce more secure products. And those could eventually be available to the rest of us. Security experts have been arguing for this "trickle-down" model for years. But rather than wield its buying power for the greater good, the government has long wimped out and taken whatever vendors served them. If the Air Force case is a good judge, however, things might be changing."

26 of 507 comments (clear)

  1. Autorun? by someone1234 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now i see why they disabled autorun. :D

    --
    Patents Drive Free Software as Hurricanes Drive Construction Industry
    1. Re:Autorun? by courteaudotbiz · · Score: 2, Funny

      Nope, they removed the _NSAKEY. Or is it _KEY2?

    2. Re:Autorun? by cbiltcliffe · · Score: 4, Funny

      You're security is useless?

      ARRRGGHH!

      Apparently, so is my grammar.

      See? Piss me off, and I can't spell.
      That must be my superhero weakness....

      --
      "City hall" in German is "Rathaus" Kinda explains a few things......
    3. Re:Autorun? by icannotthinkofaname · · Score: 2, Funny

      See? Piss me off, and I can't spell.
      That must be my superhero weakness....

      Are you sure it isn't just an easter egg from when your parents raised you?

      --
      Let q be a radix > 1. I am in ur base-q, killing 10 d00ds.
    4. Re:Autorun? by roc97007 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Wow, that needs to pass into our lexicon. "Bucket XP".

      --
      Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
    5. Re:Autorun? by nabsltd · · Score: 5, Funny

      I think something like it is already there.

      I hear "bucket, it's XP" all the time around my office.

      What do you mean "you need to get your ear-ring checked?"

    6. Re:Autorun? by Facegarden · · Score: 5, Funny

      The exception, which appears in this situation, is when you are chosen as a target due to a high payoff (military). In this case, simply being harder than your neighbour is NOT going to help you.

      So, what you're saying is, we need to let our economy keep tanking until people would rather hack into Canada?
      -Taylor

      --
      Worldwide Military budgets: $2100 billion. Worldwide Space Exploration budgets: $38 billion. Really, world? Really?
  2. I'll be truly impressed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    When the navy puts windows on their ships.

    1. Re:I'll be truly impressed by Amouth · · Score: 5, Funny

      http://gcn.com/Articles/1998/07/13/Software-glitches-leave-Navy-Smart-Ship-dead-in-the-water.aspx?p=1

      i know feeding the trolls - but he wanted to be impressed

      --
      '...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
    2. Re:I'll be truly impressed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Silly fool. The Navy has always had windows on their ships. Originally they ported them from British designs and called them "port-holes". What was really impressive was when they put windows on boomers. Admiral Nelson designed the Seaview around its Herculite(tm) bow windows.

    3. Re:I'll be truly impressed by hey! · · Score: 2, Funny

      i know feeding the trolls - but he wanted to be impressed

      You mean -- he wants a squad of royal marines marching behind a drummer boy to haul him out from behind his plough, slip the King's shilling into his pocket when he ain't looking, then send him off to see the world with His Majesty's Navy?

      Well, it takes all kinds I guess.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  3. I would just love to see... by mdm-adph · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...what they did to make it secure. Is the default wallpaper black with a big picture of a lock on it?

    --
    It is by my will alone my thoughts acquire motion; it is by the juice of the coffee bean that the thoughts acquire speed
    1. Re:I would just love to see... by houstonbofh · · Score: 4, Funny

      I am just waiting for it to show up on the torrent sites! Secure Windows, WooHoo!

    2. Re:I would just love to see... by suso · · Score: 1, Funny

      ...what they did to make it secure.

      They changed the EULA to the GPL.

  4. How to secure XP by snspdaarf · · Score: 4, Funny

    But what good is XP without drivers for keyboard, CD/DVD drives, USB ports, or NICs?

    --
    Why, without your clothes, you're naked, Miss Dudley!
    1. Re:How to secure XP by Burkin · · Score: 2, Funny

      I thought the best way to secure a Microsoft product was to never install and run it?

  5. Next will be Windows 3.11 by alukin · · Score: 2, Funny

    Next most secure ever release for US army will be Windows 95, then Windows 3.11 and at the top of security development ever will be release of MS DOS 1.0.

  6. You too can have your own "Super-Secure" XP setup by jdb2 · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's called running XP in VMware under Linux.

    ( Also, is it just me or does the "XP" after "Super-Secure" look like a smiley representing someone laughing their guts out? )

    jdb2

  7. Re:A subtle point by houstonbofh · · Score: 4, Funny

    I guess the irony of having to go to a "dirty pirate site" to get "the most secure windows ever" is lost on you. To get security, you have to steal it? (Or use %uname)

  8. Re:It's not a new version, it's just a configurati by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    You are about to secure Windows

    Yes No

  9. Microsoft lobbying vs. US Air Force by janwedekind · · Score: 2, Funny

    And the US Air Force lost this fight.

  10. UAC in Windows XP USAF Edition by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    While it's true that they disabled Autorun in XP USAF Edition, what makes it truly secure is that they ported the Vista User Account Control to XP for the Air Force.

    Here's how it works:
    Enemy Pilot wirelessly hacks into Air Force pilot's OS and attempts to send an command to eject the pilot from the plane.

    Air Force pilot sees the following message appear on his console:

    Windows needs your permission to continue
    If you started this action, continue.
    Eject pilot seat

    To continue, type an administrator password, and then click on OK.

    Pilot clicks on Cancel, and all is good!

    However, rumors persist that they did not test the scenario where the pilot actually presses the eject button.

  11. STEEL DOOR! by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 2, Funny

    Meet GRASS HUT!

    --
    "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
    Never been known to fail..."
  12. security program manager at Microsoft by rs232 · · Score: 4, Funny

    "I am a security program manager at Microsoft"

    I wouldn't mention this on your next job application ;)

    --
    davecb5620@gmail.com
  13. Balmer, Gilligan, SuperSecure Windows XP... by Phizzle · · Score: 2, Funny

    And then I blew my morning coffee through my nose...

    --
    I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.
  14. Oxymoron? by JustNiz · · Score: 3, Funny

    >> the most secure version of Windows XP

    Isn't that an oxymoron? Kinda like dry water?