Tag: malware

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Microsoft’s Shadow Ecosystem

There are many measures of success, and some are less desirable than others. Windows is the standard by which cybercriminals measure their wares—eh, malware. Their devotion to Windows is testament to Microsoft’s success. The company should just accept the feint praise for what it is.

Microsoft claims that Windows is more widely attacked by malware than, say, Mac OS X because of volume; many, many more people use Windows PCs than Macs. The claim is great PR, because it kind of makes sense and is unprovable without Macs gaining lots more marketshare. But on closer examination, the claim is pure BS. Microsoft security experts know so, or they’re delusional.

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Free Themes with a Hidden Cost

About 11 years ago, I registered aroostook.org, as it derives from the name of my home county, or “The County” as Mainers call it. I later let a good friend have the domain, which I long regretted.

It’s nothing to do with him; he’s a great friend. In retrospect, I could have put the domain to good use. Today, I looked over the WHOIS record, which indicates the domain record was created in 2002. Mmmm, 1996 is more like it. He must have let the domain expire at some point.

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No One is Safe

I am increasingly troubled by the implications of the Sony rootkit DRM, uncovered on Halloween by renown Windows expert Mark Russinovich. Essentially, Sony used a cloaking mechanism, typically the tool of malicious hackers, to hide digital rights management software installed on PCs from copy-protected music CDs. Like malware, the rootkit occasionally sends out information (to Sony), is nearly impossible to remove and when removed usually damages Windows.

I’ll skip over all the ways that Sony has turned its copy-protection mechanism into the worst kind of public relations disaster. I couldn’t imagine how any company could create more negative perception about DRM, but I’ll skip that, too.