[KULUA] Nightline (fwd) - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

5 May 2000

-----Original Message-----
From: Gary Hildebrand &lt;ghldbrd(a)ccp.com&gt;
To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org &lt;classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org&gt;
Date: Friday, May 05, 2000 1:16 PM
Subject: [KULUA] Nightline (fwd)

...
 Hello group,

Here's something we all knew already, but we need to educate the brainwashed
...
 masses about Microslop . . . Last sentence says it
all.

*** FORWARDED MESSAGE ***
  Original author: trp0
  Written on: 05-May-00
*** Beginning of forwarded message ***
 <some of forwarded message snipped>

...
  Seems to my like a large majority of even the
standard
viruses live in the MS realm. Wouldn't it strike you as a little alarming
if the product you are turning out is the target of so many easily
constructed destructive programs because of the way your product is
designed and implemented?

I think the first sentence is a bit disingenuous. Microsoft is the target
of the large majority of standard viruses because the majority of virus
writers (and everyone else) use Microsoft products. If a platform is
sufficiently popular, some loser will write viruses for it. It seems to me
that some of the smug "my Macintosh/Amiga/etc wasn't bothered by this"
messages I've seen are forgetting that in their heyday, the Amiga/Mac/etc.
had as many viruses problems as the PC.

What Microsoft should get blasted for is not fixing the gaping security
holes in any VBScript-enabled program after Melissa et al. demonstrated how
vulnerable they are.

Ob. ClassicComp content:
At least when the Great Worm of 1988 blasted the Internet, the Unix
community by and large fixed the security holes in sendmail that it
exposed.

What the Internet community has to figure out is how to fix the TCP/IP
protocols so volume-related attacks (mass e-mails, denial of service
attacks) can't cripple big parts of the infrastructure. Imagine how
e-commerce companies fared yesterday, when thousands of companies turned
off all of their Net access, including email and browsers. If e-commerce is
the future, there needs to be a more reliable Net for it to run on.

Just my 2 cents.

Mark