Hmm, dunno when and where Microsoft told you that Windows 2000 would not need any service packs (are you sure it weren't the voices in your head?), but out here in the real world the availability date for SP1 has already been announced.
But anyway, was there a point somewhere in all of this? No?? OK then, let's return to our regulary scheduled rant about how Linux is waaaaay superior to any Microsoft product, never has bugs or needs updates, etc. etc.
Who should be blamed here, the OS or the administrators ? I think the answer is obvious. A bad administrator will cause similar problems in any old OS.
I'm not sure why everyone is suddenly so excited about the fact that you can easily steal credit card numbers "over the Internet" -- heck, you can easily steal credit card numbers anywhere. Guess someone feels they have to make up for their Y2K media fiasco...
But anyway, all the attention to this issue is probably a Good Thing. Popular Internet e-commerce servers are bound to have quite a bit of credit card numbers, along with other goodies such as the name of the owner and the expiration date, floating around, and it's time that a people became more clueful about how to handle this situation.
Face it: any setup where both your webserver and database server are available from the Internet is a major security risk. The way most e-commerce shops, especially those running at hosting companies, are set up today (webserver and database server on the same machine, or at least the same network without any access controls) is simply asking for trouble.
Here are a few reasons why: Software bugs - and no, not running any Microsoft products won't get you off the hook. In fact, I guess the cozy little MySQL password security exploit that was discovered recently is way worse than the::$DATA issue, although most clueful providers will fix it quickly. Untrusted staff - how easy is it for a rogue operator at your provider, or a lowly-paid temp working for the shop itself, to run a complete copy of the credit card file? General data security - in other words: hey, do you know who else has access to your shared database server, or where the backups go at night?
All of the above leads to a few conclusions: 1. Partitioning - Web and database server functionality should be separated as much as possible: having your database on a separate machine and fitted with proper access controls (i.e. only accepting connections from trusted hosts and using proper authentication in addition to that) is pretty much a requirement. 2. Encryption and access controls - Even with proper partitioning in place, most of your customer details need to be encrypted using a non-trivial scheme, and proper access controls need to be put in place. Make sure only the right people have access to your data, and log every access. Disable bulk commands, except during the backup window, if possible.
Now, which percentages of sites is operating as described above today? My guess would be less than 10%, leaving enough room for on- and off-line crackers to steal whatever information they want. It's not consumer problem per se (since credit card companies have pretty extensive consumer protection from fraud...), but still a lot needs to be done before the general public will truly get a warm fuzzy feeling about on-line shopping...
I have to agree that this is going way too far: there is a thin line between IPO optimism and fraud, but it seems quite clear that LinuxOne does not have the best interests of investors in mind. (Nevermind the Linux community: whatever will happen here will have a bad reflection on it...)
If you're a US citizen, also complain to the SEC, the government organization overseeing everything related to stock trading. Their web page is here, and makes it quite clear that what LinuxOne is doing is potentially illegal:
For example, it is unlawful in certain situations for someone to sell securities to you while withholding important information that could affect your investment decision, such as selling you stock in a company but not disclosing to you that the business has no existing operations or selling a stock to you for ten dollars per share when the seller knows the stock is worthless.
I'd say they'd at least take a good look at LinuxOne if enough people complain...
Microsoft has done a very poor job of switching their mindset for the "security is less important" world of stand alone machines to the "security is vital" world of computer networks.
Oh, I'm sure that Microsoft could do a better job on some of their security models. But in this case it's a bit of a moot point, as MS did not design the WebTV, and also inherited most of its code when they bought the original designers, a company called WebTV.
There's a lot of crap out there (also open source based software: wanna see my Y2K fixlist?), and it's not just from Microsoft. From a Slashdot perspective, we'll be fine pretending otherwise, though. Wanna place a bet on when the first major Open Source security fuckup will happen?
Re:Virus writers will SAVE US from remote disable.
on
Future I/O Standards
·
· Score: 1
Vendors who's products were wrongfully disabled en masse will catch HELL from consumers. Fir this reason, "features" like this will never make it to the market. THANKS TO CRACKERS!
Oh, some people will be infuriated by this, but you can count on this becoming mandatory for most devices anyway (hey, ever read the Digital Millennium Copyright Act?). Most consumers simply could care less, even if you managed to explain the issues to them. And while I agree that crackers will find a workaround to this right away, the control issue is interesting even for non-insane applications
It basically comes down to: who do you trust to have any kind of authority on your serial bus? Your hardware manufacturer? (5C shows this might not be a good idea...) Do you purchase your own $125 VeriSign certificate for I/O purposes? Questions, questions, questions...
Even the most die-hard S-bus or PCI fan will have to admit that the plug-and-play functionality provided by USB and IEEE1394 is pretty neat, and that high-end alternatives like fibre channel offer some pretty cool stuff as well. It's only logical that a next-generation I/O bus will combine the best of both worlds, and although using fibre-optic cables might sound excessive, prices will soon be down to about the same level as copper, so again: why not use it?
One not-so-nice thing about all this high speed local connectivity is that it worries the Copyright Mafia to no end. The MPAA and others already see people copying entire DVDs in the privacy of their own homes, and are proposing draconic control schemes (like 5C does for IEEE 1394 -- see http://www.dtcp.com/ -- in short: how would you like your TV to send a message to your cloned DVD player in order to disable it remotely??).
But fortunately, the same technology can also be used by sane people to implement flexible certificate-based link-level security. Using IPv6, for example, would automagically enable IP-sec, and there should be enough address space left there (~85%) to give manufacturers a way to do autoconfiguration...
Slashdot Mirror
But anyway, was there a point somewhere in all of this? No?? OK then, let's return to our regulary scheduled rant about how Linux is waaaaay superior to any Microsoft product, never has bugs or needs updates, etc. etc.
Yup, any administrator capable of reading would have followed the security guidelines available from Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.c om/security/products/iis/CheckList.asp). Then again, most admins are not interested in reading. Blame the schools, not Microsoft...
But anyway, all the attention to this issue is probably a Good Thing. Popular Internet e-commerce servers are bound to have quite a bit of credit card numbers, along with other goodies such as the name of the owner and the expiration date, floating around, and it's time that a people became more clueful about how to handle this situation.
Face it: any setup where both your webserver and database server are available from the Internet is a major security risk. The way most e-commerce shops, especially those running at hosting companies, are set up today (webserver and database server on the same machine, or at least the same network without any access controls) is simply asking for trouble.
Here are a few reasons why: ::$DATA issue, although most clueful providers will fix it quickly.
Software bugs - and no, not running any Microsoft products won't get you off the hook. In fact, I guess the cozy little MySQL password security exploit that was discovered recently is way worse than the
Untrusted staff - how easy is it for a rogue operator at your provider, or a lowly-paid temp working for the shop itself, to run a complete copy of the credit card file?
General data security - in other words: hey, do you know who else has access to your shared database server, or where the backups go at night?
All of the above leads to a few conclusions:
1. Partitioning - Web and database server functionality should be separated as much as possible: having your database on a separate machine and fitted with proper access controls (i.e. only accepting connections from trusted hosts and using proper authentication in addition to that) is pretty much a requirement.
2. Encryption and access controls - Even with proper partitioning in place, most of your customer details need to be encrypted using a non-trivial scheme, and proper access controls need to be put in place. Make sure only the right people have access to your data, and log every access. Disable bulk commands, except during the backup window, if possible.
Now, which percentages of sites is operating as described above today? My guess would be less than 10%, leaving enough room for on- and off-line crackers to steal whatever information they want. It's not consumer problem per se (since credit card companies have pretty extensive consumer protection from fraud...), but still a lot needs to be done before the general public will truly get a warm fuzzy feeling about on-line shopping...
But anyway, what can you do? Linking to one of the more recent in The Register from your web site or in your .sig is probably a good idea.
If you're a US citizen, also complain to the SEC, the government organization overseeing everything related to stock trading. Their web page is here, and makes it quite clear that what LinuxOne is doing is potentially illegal:
For example, it is unlawful in certain situations for someone to sell securities to you while withholding important information that could affect your investment decision, such as selling you stock in a company but not disclosing to you that the business has no existing operations or selling a stock to you for ten dollars per share when the seller knows the stock is worthless.
I'd say they'd at least take a good look at LinuxOne if enough people complain...
Oh, I'm sure that Microsoft could do a better job on some of their security models. But in this case it's a bit of a moot point, as MS did not design the WebTV, and also inherited most of its code when they bought the original designers, a company called WebTV.
There's a lot of crap out there (also open source based software: wanna see my Y2K fixlist?), and it's not just from Microsoft. From a Slashdot perspective, we'll be fine pretending otherwise, though. Wanna place a bet on when the first major Open Source security fuckup will happen?
Oh, some people will be infuriated by this, but you can count on this becoming mandatory for most devices anyway (hey, ever read the Digital Millennium Copyright Act?). Most consumers simply could care less, even if you managed to explain the issues to them. And while I agree that crackers will find a workaround to this right away, the control issue is interesting even for non-insane applications
It basically comes down to: who do you trust to have any kind of authority on your serial bus? Your hardware manufacturer? (5C shows this might not be a good idea...) Do you purchase your own $125 VeriSign certificate for I/O purposes? Questions, questions, questions...
One not-so-nice thing about all this high speed local connectivity is that it worries the Copyright Mafia to no end. The MPAA and others already see people copying entire DVDs in the privacy of their own homes, and are proposing draconic control schemes (like 5C does for IEEE 1394 -- see http://www.dtcp.com/ -- in short: how would you like your TV to send a message to your cloned DVD player in order to disable it remotely??).
But fortunately, the same technology can also be used by sane people to implement flexible certificate-based link-level security. Using IPv6, for example, would automagically enable IP-sec, and there should be enough address space left there (~85%) to give manufacturers a way to do autoconfiguration...