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Quick, Stick Your Finger in the Dike! |
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 Windows security breaches are more frequent than a Barry Bonds home run. They patch one hole and 5 more seem to open up. And seeing as how we like to keep people informed about security problems (especially with Windows, because the problems are just so much more potentially destructive!) we'd like to inform you of the latest Windows exploit.
According to a CNET article, the most recent exploit for Windows involves hackers taking control of machines via IRC. (IRC, or Internet Relay Chat is an "ancient" form of chat that precedes the World Wide Web). The hack takes advantage of a buffer overrun vulnerability.
The tool used for this attack is actually cobbled together from six different files, one of which is from source code posted by a security group in Poland (as we reported here).
Ever since the code for that security hole was posted, experts have been waiting for a worm to turn up, the likes of which haven't been seen since the Slammer worm - which kicked the crap out of SQL servers worldwide (kind of like the El Nino of the computer world). Anyway, this new exploit isn't even a worm, as the main characterstic of worms is that they replicate themselves...meaning that hackers are only scratching the surface of what they can do to Windows machines, and that sometime in the near future someone will come up with a worm and the excrement will come in contact with the rapidly rotating bladed device.
As if that weren't bad enough, we came across a ZDNet article (by way of MacDailyNews) that tells of how the Department of Homeland Security issued a warning late last week about this very same hole. They say that there is "evidence that an attack is being planned on computers using Microsoft's Windows", and that there has been an "increase in searches for vulnerable computers on the Internet over the past week". Now, ever since the aforementioned Department of "Homeland Security" went Windows on us, their word is a little shaky with me, but all the same it's still funny watching them flounder about with all the security issues they've been having to deal with.
So in summation, if you're one of those masochist-types who run Windows, make sure you're protected and run Windows Update to get the latest security updates. Or you could always upgrade to a Mac and not have to worry about such things, but the choice is yours!
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August 4 2003, 10:42 AM EDT, by
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Comments:
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| Peter |
8/4/03, 5:43 PM EDT |
Just to clarify, hackers actually "take control" of the machine via RPC--remote procedure calls. It's vaguely analogous to program linking on the Mac. Once the machine is infected, it runs a IRC client so that it can be controlled remotely.
I get hit about four times an hour on UDP port 135--which is what RPC uses.
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| va1entino |
8/4/03, 9:08 PM EDT |
Ah...it feels good to be a Mac user.
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| won |
8/4/03, 10:18 PM EDT |
I don't know how inherently (ie: by design) impregnable Unix or Mac OS X are, but the impression I get is that it's mainly security through obscurity, which is a Bad Thing.
Since Apple's on the way up nowadays, it could shortly become a Very Bad Thing as hax0rz (did I spell that right?) turn their evil keyboards towards the relatively unmolested members of this platform.
I don't want to be the first that discovers this new predilection.
Totally offtopic: the "Yer using Mozilla" browser detection icon @ the top of the page can probably now be updated to the new Moz icon...unless they're gonna change it again...
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| Jonahan |
8/5/03, 2:26 PM EDT |
Good point won. I believe that "security through obscurity" is part of it, but another part of it is good code. Plus, I'm sure there are hacks for OS X, just as there are hacks for Linux, BSD, etc., but the holes are not nearly as varied or as gaping as with Windows.
<shrug> But then again, i'm no security expert.
Thanks for the update about the mozilla icon :)
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| Greg |
5/7/04, 1:23 PM EDT |
There is no security through obscurity in Unix. The mac kernel is available via web and ftp and anyone can look it over. The commands have been developed over the years and have been heavily reviewed. The difference here is that Unix was developed from the ground up with security in mind; Microsoft never even thinks about security in their network apps. In addition, Unix applications are not tied directly to the kernel, infact there is a barrier between user space and kernel space to make sure administrative type commands cannot be run by someone who does not have authority. Microsoft has built practically its entire product line into the kernel, allowing virtually anything in Office, SQL Server, .NET or whatever to run priviledged commands without asking for login or password information.
Unix has had a long time to work out the security kinks to provide a safe and secure method of getting on a wide area network. It will take Microsoft a long time to learn what the Unix community has been doing for the better part of 30 years.
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I bet the main reason the police keep people away from a plane crash is they don't want anybody walking in and lying down in the crash stuff, then, when somebody comes up, act like they just woke up and go, "What was THAT?!"
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