Get yourself a good spam filter to not care about. Gmail got a pretty smart one, unlike hotmai's. I barely see it in my INBOXes (2 accounts) + run my own with spamassassin.
Posts by eulampios
1186 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Aug 2011
China, Russia called out as cyberspy hotbeds
Samsung demands iPhone 4S source code in Aussie row
Open-sourcers suggest Linux secure boot block workarounds
antitrust law forbids this
If a single company sides with a number of independent ones to control the market in its entirety, they all seek troubles from the antitrust authorities.
Especially, when the the prototype of your "petrol-driven automobile" example is absolutely irrelevant, because it were it could justify ANY possible pro-trust behavior. Infect, from the fact that all the PC's I own and had to buy with the Windows logo run Linuxes/FreeBSD flawlessly, in fact much better than the original "petrol-engined " junk.
Safe as Windows: Smartphones' security nightmare
@JDX
You also point out only one aspect of malware creation, OS's software vulnerabilities. It is an important one. And various *nix system do not lack those, not as serious (remote code execution et al) and as numerous as in MS Windows though.
MS Windows also has vulnerabilities in its design. These are more heavily used to infect and spread the said malware.
The fact that the code is closed makes it harder to keep it more secure.
Compare the number of vulnerabilities in th Adobe Reader and the various OSS alternatives, like xpdf, evince, and kpdf.
proven and hard to disprove
>>miscreants focus their energy on it?
These are not the only miscreants to blame, the designers of MS Windows OS are even more mis-creative in that regard.
Remember a common vector in the most effective and great malware on Windows? It was RPC. RPC is entirely Redmond's stupidity. Another one is "user-friendliness" + design flaw to judge about a file (attachment) based on its extension. Memento ILOVELETER with 5 *10^7 machines affected?
stereotypes again
>>we have the makings of a serious mobile security problem, particularly for Android users, just as Android seems set to become the Windows of the mobile world, in all the good and bad senses that brand implies.
OK, so there is no difference already between the malware from the Google Market that you install with your own hands (e.g., thinking that this SexyLeg is cool and indispensable app) , and when your own Windows system does it without your knowledge on its own (thanks to tons of "user-friendly" features, design flaws and vulnerabilities, 0-day and not)
Android 'stands on Microsoft's shoulders', says MS lawyer
As I myself use MS Windows only when forced to, refusing to touch it even at the college where I teach and hence bring a live Ubuntu usb with me.
However, assuming some people do post from MS Windows. Weren't they made use it in the first place? Schools teach MS (rarely but equally evil Apple) , colleges teach and make you use MS and force you to pay for it. MS sides with OEMs and make you use Windows whenever you buy a PC. -
Apple shifts Lossless Audio Codec to open source
good only for win7 benchmark?
Your benchmark essentially contradicts http://flac.sourceforge.net/comparison.html , where it provides these figures, in particular:
Codec Total CPU Total CPU Size Avg.ratio
FLAC 1.2.1 (-3) 7:23.77 3:47.42 5:31.15 2:19.07 412.42 MB 54.57%
Apple Lossless (iTunes 4.5) 19:53.27 19:53.27 10:01.86 10:01.86 414.45 MB 54.96%
So, compared to ALAC., when encoding to the codec, FLAC takes about 3 times shorter (7:30 min vs. 20 min) with roughly the same compression ratio.
I myself use shntools backend (Linux/FreeBSD) for all of my encodings and find FLAC to be great and better than ape. Nowadays all decent music players consume close to non CPU to play flac (reasonable default ratio).
Right now with clementine listening to flac encoded "Concerto pour violon n° 12 en mi majeur RV265 - I. Allegro". It occupies 2% cpu time + 5% of 1.5 GB RAM (with 219G mostly in flac music collection! ) on 64bit Ubuntu LTS, Pentium 4 CPU 3.00GHz.
Tsunami Trojan: First Mac attack based on Linux crack
>>All it takes is to put a line in your xsession -or something- and copy a small script wherever to open a backdoor and/or launch a keylogger everytime you log in. And then there _are_ ways to escalate priviledges...
Are you changing from email/mutt to xsession? Who would copy a script to my xsession? While I am at lunch and Mr./Miss. hacker boots my lappy into the run level 1 (ro single)? We are not talking about this possibility. As it follows from most of compromised systems (including Debian) ssh policy is the weakest link, (not the technology). This again is a different subject.
If you have a link to point to any REAL existing cases ( or thousands of cases) when that had happened, I will agree with you. Remember the 50mln machines infected by ILOVEYOU ?
Note, that I am not asserting that Linux/BSD are so secure, one has to pay zero care to the security. Up-to-date system, strong passwords (no reuses) and so on. However, emailophobia is a paranoia. This is one of many reasons why Windows sucks.
PS I rarely get "dubious" emails, thanks to gmail's spam filter and my own spamassassin.
You runnung how many Debians???
Well, smartie pants, firstly, mutt does not open ANY attachment unless you tell it to and/or teach it how (in muttrc and mailcap) nor do any of the decent email client. Secondly, As far as the spooky thing ito "open dubious" emails is concerned, windbloats systems are known to open/autorun attachments without prior user's permission.
Anyways, did even "opening" an attachment in any Debian system ever incur any Halloween as it had done on thousands of Windblows systems? Of course I can stumble upon this attachment :
/bin/sh
sudo rm -rf /* &&printf "%s\n" "Have a great day! "
My bad, you must be talking about that one then ... :) Oops I woulds till have to chmod it and give password. I better drop my PC out of the roof of a building (will make sure it is clear) ;-)
Yes, Mac OS X is much more secure than Windows, it's security is weaker than that of free *BSD's or GNU/Linux.
PS Persevering in this matter on your side makes me doubt your Debian experience.
>>My understanding is that a WORM probegates from computer to computer on the same network, without human intervention.
Your understanding appears to be wrong . Just reread that very article, that does mention the user's authorization to run the Java applet in question and says about "several cases in the wild". Compare it with the glorious (yet not the greatest) stuxnet :)
too much imagination
>>would be up to the attackers imagination. Spam it out, p2p it, driveby web infections, cross scripting, the old scroll here trick, simply downloading it to already infected machines, port scanning for vulns, etc etc...
That's is the most interesting part. All the mentioned methods might be extremely hard to implement, except for the social engineering (for some people ) or an unknown vuln., weak password. What you are suggesting though is (at least was) pretty mundane in the Windows world.
Windows XP and iPod: A tale of two birthdays
Mass ASP.NET attack causes websites to turn on visitors
Trojan targets Mac's built-in security defences
not all
Not really, *BSD and GNU/Linux distributives and apparently not. For these OS's 99.99 % of software installation and updates happen from central repositories/ports through package managers using checksums and PGP. Of course, repos/ports may as well be fooled/hacked to get end users install malware.. well that never happened.
This free and open software has luxury, proprietary and non-free Mac OSX and Windows cannot afford
Samsung takes another hit in patent punch-up
Dennis Ritchie: The C man who booted Unix
Dell signals Windows 8 fondleslab range
hp sucks more
Not necessarily. Commenting this from the 2005 E510 machine that would have been so bad on Windows. WInXP died around 2006. Ubuntu 10.04 GNOME desktop + Compiz is gorgeous with just 1.5 G of RAM. Dell is a bit overpriced though
HP is actually the worst quality, imho Yes, I agree, Dell's Ubuntu offer is a joke.
Hadoop: A Linux even Microsoft likes
oops they did again...
Nice article
Microsoft has been wrong, who would ever doubt it? Nevertheless, Microsoft is still very well stifling the FOSS, competition, competence and common sense.
>>its contribution of Linux drivers
A microscopic drop in the drivers' ocean. This contribution pertains only M$' own virtual machine implementation. I turned it off (and not only because it did not compile for me.)
Sony network ransacked in huge brute-force attack
Microsoft flags Firefox and Chrome for security failings
IE security hole sewn up for Patch Tuesday
GNOME emits 'head up the arse' desktop update
GNU/Linux (*BSD) + music=awesome
<<The music software available was also far too limiting (and non-functional), and the disaster which is Pulseaudio meant I couldn't even produce music without hearing pops, clicks, and noise.>>
It might have been just a driver issue. Now pulseaudio is very stable and good. My experience is that with Linux/FreeBSD I had much more choices than Windows people had. Consider cdrdao, shntools, sox etc. Yes they are available for Windblows OS as well, however, it is not usually accessible to those who are so afraid of the command line (yes the right way to communicate with the machine. )
Anyways, let me brag about my music collection I was able to build thanks to GNU and Linux. Turned ape into flac all over. Populated all cuesheets (with sed, awk, bash and cuetols). Enjoying now Bach (the papa and sons), Handel, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven and other great stuff playing in clementine. Good 'ol xmms, audacious, even mplayer are also very good. Maybe it is just me with classical music, some kind of rock rocks and pop pops up on Windows only?
tough love
If windows is cool, why their best text editor notepad or anything else sucks so much? Is there a reasonable shell and a terminal program (not that stupid ugly-looking thing they still have)? Have Win7 become modular finally? What about those shoutings "don't click on the link, don't insert a DVD/usb, don't open this email message - they might be dangerous"?!!! Or you just love running a piece or two of extra bloatware, called an AV scan that constantly grind your hdd, occupy your RAM/CPU and might do some other stuff, you do not have an idea of?
compiz surpassed both apple's and windmond's eye-candiness once and for all
To me both Apple and MS UI don't look as good as Gnome2 or KDE, or even enlightenment. Plus how much control do you have over them?
Tried expose on the Win7 desktop -- so lame awkward and slow even with good hardware. Aero and Cocoa are no match to the beauty, sleekness and power of compiz.
sorry for it
What an unfortunate and rare experience! I am sorry for you, sir, as well as are a few former Windows users being quite happy with GNU/Linux (Ubuntu, so far Unity-free) after I helped them install it.
Yes, I remember I too sometimes get disappointed with certain upgrades. Freshly-baked cutting-edge Fedora and Ubuntu are not supposed to be absolutely problems-free. LTS Ubuntu or Debian (stable) are stable as rock though. With free and open software everyone has much more choices than with the locking-in alternatives.
Tried Win7 recently, it's not as good as my Gnome2 though, nor KDE, nor XFCE, nor Enlightenment, nor Fluxbox (especially, on this very thin hardware, obsolete according to M$). No bash nor any other reasonable shell, no control, no freedom, very little common sense.
Gnome2 is/was almost perfect. Why changing it? Linus is right, I hope gnome developers will learn a lesson here. And all of us still have plenty of choices, this is (partly) why many of us left the Windows camp in the first place.
Microsoft takes the Android profit, the Wonkas take the pain
Android's scariest nightmare: resurgently sexy Microsoft
So even M$ can improve?
Did Redmond get their Mango-tango multitasking? The reason I am asking is it's always been a problem for them (Phone7 in particular). Lack of good programmers and plenty of greedy business people.
On the other hand, what M$ is trying to do with FUD is anticompetitive. There's no theft, but FAT32 idiotism involved. Consider 70% of web and mail servers, 90% of top500, imagine all Google revenues.
I would personally applaud M$ despite all the disgust to them if they could win fairly just only for once.
Google cries foul, Feds dump Microsoft cloud monopoly
Microsoft delivers fatal blow to yet another botnet
a habit
As a matter of fact , all major packagers, like aptitude/apt, yum and others so use the Pretty Good Privacy system and simple md5sum checksumming. I remind you that on most LInux and *BSD distros installations and updates are carried out from central repos.
Yes, a newbie that just came from the Windows camp never heard of this. He/she had always been using different unverified sources to install soft from. Updates might be either not convenient or inexistent. So he or she might end up doing what they simply did on Windows.
MySQL.com breach leaves visitors exposed to malware
Microsoft turns to FBI in hunt for Rustock ringleader
@ac
The difference is the default setup, It is harder to root a typical *nix box than a Windows box. Read Anon about the hbgary.com hack (arstechnica.com)
Say, on Ubuntu the desktop (not the server) setup disables the root account, i.e., it does exist, however one cannot login as root. To handle admin tasks the sudo utility is used, not su, (sudoers will define the group of admins). Using the command "passwd root" and typing in a password will enable the root though.
On Windows, by default, the first user will have admin rights. If you are an admin you, every time you login, there is a great risk for the system. Besides, MS has a "Run As" utility which is closer to su, rather than sudo,
@the well informed ShelLuser
<<which at its height enslaved about 1.6 million PCs>>
Still this is three orders of magnitude difference, isn't it (whereas, as for the MS fanboys themselves, the desktops numbers are a two)?
And BTW you must know something I don't, could you pls point at the evidence of thousands of "rooted Linux and BSD boxes" ? (Don't bother about hijacked php services, though)
Windows 8 to ship with built-in malware protection
schools overfed with M$ and Mac
And how do they know that?
One professor in my grad school was notorious in cramming all his diffeq courses with super expensive Mathematica. No wonder, he had a grant paid by the Wolfram Res. Now you ask , why do engineers have such extravagant tastes? Why not go with free and equally powerful octave, gp, maxima etc?