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NSA Advises Upgrade To Windows 7

Posted by timothy on from the even-with-the-new-openbsd dept.

An anonymous reader writes "In a document available from the NSA (warning, PDF file), that organisation advises users to upgrade to Windows 7 as part of their Best Practice for Securing a Home Network. No mention of BSD or Linux so I guess the Slashdot crowd will just have to bite the bullet and change operating systems if they want to be really secure."

12 of 377 comments (clear)

  1. So... by msauve · · Score: 5, Funny

    this means that there's an even better backdoor for the NSA in Win7?

    --
    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    1. Re:So... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      The backdoor in XP only gives them a master algorithm

      It's actually a master key. The algorithm is well known, and is publicly available (like your mother).

      something else I haven't thought of

      Like Microsoft and Intel working together, to add a backdoor at the processor level? You should have thought of that. Hand in your badge, you're not a real nerd.

      they [Microsoft] actually care about your security

      You're such a dumbass.

      ...without insulting my mother, my nerd-status, or my intellect

      oops

  2. awful summary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    way to be a teenage provocative troll

    1. Re:awful summary by black3d · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Are Timothy and Kdawson different people, or merely alter egos?

      --
      "The true measure of a person is how they act when they know they won't get caught." - DSRilk
  3. Considering who this is talking about, so what? by Derekloffin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is talking to your average home user, and guess what, Linux is not exactly a popular desktop OS. It certainly has it's draw, but switching over to it just is a non-starter for most people. You'll also note they talked about Mac OS upgrades too, not just windows 7. Windows 7 upgrade was mentioned specifically if they were already using a windows OS.

  4. Misleading summary by whoever57 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The article suggests that, if your are running Windows, that you upgrade to Windows 7 or Vista.

    It also has advice for MAC users.

    Just because it has no advice for Linux or BSD users doesn't mean that the article suggests that Linux or BSD users should switch to Windows.

    [But you all knew that -- whenever are /. summaries accurate?]

    --
    The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
    1. Re:Misleading summary by AHuxley · · Score: 4, Insightful

      For the BSD users http://cryptome.org/0003/fbi-backdoors.htm
      The NSA would not really care what OS you use, its all networking in plain text and a known ip to them.
      64 bit Windows 7 just reduces the malware and provides a cleaner network.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  5. The NSA was addressing 99% of people by betelgeuse68 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Not the 1% who use LINUX desktops. Spare me the trolling. I like Ubuntu a lot, but I'm a tech person. Most people aren't, get over it.

    1. Re:The NSA was addressing 99% of people by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Which is not to mention that the NSA has done more to contribute to the security of the Linux kernel than they have (at least as far as is publicly acknowledged) done for Windows: SELinux.

      --
      Palm trees and 8
  6. NSA by 0123456 · · Score: 5, Informative

    The NSA have an excellent guide for securing Linux systems (particularly Redhat, but much is applicable to all distros), so they're hardly Windows-centric.

  7. Goddamnit Slashdot by atomicbutterfly · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Windows 7 IS a worthy upgrade from XP - certainly from the security point of view. I have helped people with transitions from XP/Vista to 7 and found an almost unanimous praise for it. Given the choice, people preferred 7 for reasons of aesthetics, functionality and robustness.

    The longer the Linux crowd believes that Microsoft can not make decent quality (once in a while at least), the longer they'll fail to make any changes which might someday resolve the issues that push people away from Linux.

  8. Bad summary by Wyatt+Earp · · Score: 5, Informative

    I guess no one involved in green lighting this read the PDF.

    The NSA pamphlet was only for Windows and Mac users, it didn't mention migrating to LINUX or BSD because it wasn't about alternative OSes, just what current users should go to.

    They have a bunch of these fact sheets, shocking the securing iPhones and iPads one doesn't talk about migrating to Android or Win 7.
    http://www.nsa.gov/ia/guidance/security_configuration_guides/fact_sheets.shtml