On Thursday 05 July 2001 02:48, tazmun wrote:
> > >> It is not perfect, but relaxation beyond that lets in the sort
> > >> of
> >
> > nonsense you see in Windows all the time. <<
>
> Ok, I too am curious exactly what is meant here? I've had my
> computer in windows mode to all the sites I am aware of to check
> security and as far as I know it is secure as it is possible to be.
> My systems don't even allow file transfer on TCP/IP, they use
> another protocol for that so the TCP/IP is only for web access.My
> knowledge of hacking etc is very limited. It is implied that it is
> easier to hack a windows system then it is a Linux system...if this
> is so why and how?
Well, for one, Windows 9x through to XP are all single-user systems,
but that is not the big reason.
Windows NT and Windows 2000 are very crackable _WHEN_ you put
Microsoft applications on them though, running standalone, they are
probably as secure as any immature unix.
You see, when Windows 3.1 was fresh out, WordPerfect held 90% of the
word-processor market. How did it come about that just a few years
later, Word was king and WordPerfect was "incompatible"?
When you have an operating system, you make Application Programming
Interfaces or APIs that other software writers then use to make their
programs work with your system. Microsoft did this. But for their
own programs, they realized that they could use their special
knowledge of their system (and it was truly theirs though the
underlying DOS definitely was _not_.) to let Word run faster, more
efficiently, and more feature-laden because it did not have to work
through APIs for everything, it could _directly_ access the kernel.
In linux or unix, a program that can _directly_ access the kernel is
a kernel module. There are walls for everything else, and APIs for
requesting and receiving kernel services. It would be a cardinal sin
to write something that atempted to violate the walls between apps
and system. Just as when X crashes, the keyboard is locked, the
mouse won't move, chances are the kernel is fine and a telnet or
webmin access or ssh into the machine will show it.
WINE (Wine Is Not an Emulator) runs many programs for linux that were
designed to run under windows. It does so by providing services
through analogues of the Windows APIs. WordPerfect for linux uses
WINE, and runs. Microsoft Office programs strangely do not appear to
fully run under WINE though sometimes they will show some splash
screens and graphics.
OK so even IF you get by all the holes and erase the NSA key in your
windows replacing it with one of your own, and change the third key
as well so that cryptographic services run properly, and no one can
load security software on your machine without your knowledge. And
if you manage to stay away from sites that contain trojans in the
downloads they offer, you are still subject to some horrid things.
For example, you might receive a reply from a trusted source you just
mailed.
SCENARIO:
"I'll get back to you as soon as I can on the matter. In the mean
time, take a look at this"
There sits an .xls file. Since your mail had nothing to do with
numbers, you dump it.
TOO LATE! It is a middleware exploit cruising one of the
superhighways into the core of your system and it was borne by a
variant of the KAK virus (Kagou antiKro$soft says, Not Today).
Now what happens? Do you send out weird replies to email? Yes, fro
a limited time.
Meanwhile next time you are on the internet, this little program
opens up and connects to an IRC server, and it goes to a hidden chat
room using a secret key and reports to its master. It gives the
secret, random port it has chosen for communication with your
computer, its secret, randomly generated, name, perhaps accepts a
message containing the SUB7 server, and waits for orders.
And maybe a few days or years later, your ISP, if he's a good one,
and believe me the big ones want to ignore this problem, comes to you
and asks if he can inspect your programs because your computer was
one of three thousand that participated in a Distributed Denial of
Service (DDoS) attack against the Bank of America, or some server
offering free security software, or....
Or if you are really unlucky, you get a knock at your door from the
FBI because your computer was a relay in a really BIG cybercrime.
Up to now, Windows machines were available only with very limited
socket capabilities. They can send huge, fragmented UDP packets and
ICMP packets with malformations, but their ability to mangle TCP/IP
packets and spoof IP addresses just wasn't there. Windows XP changes
that.
And the crackers and sociopathic juveniles of the world, who were
limited to armies of cockroaches before now will find they command
cockroaches with nuclear backpacks.
And naturally, the folks using the net are saying "thin is beautiful"
and equipping themselves with routers and small devices to handle
firewalling. What is going to be required in this brave new world
with armies of CAPABLE internet Zombie soldiers running XP is the
Network Computer.... with stateful packets, almost everywhere there
is now a router.
You see, the DDoS attack is just packets that your computer will
ignore. It is a flood of them that will take up all your bandwidth
right where you connect to your ISP. And it is fairly simple for the
ISP to configure a few router rules to stop them before they hit the
choke point.
But the new packet capability would be looking like replies to sent
queries. The router cannot guard this situation--it has to be
something that can say "no no no, you are not a reply because I
never sent that request".
I think user-friendly.org has it right. Linux is like a
cancer--growing and spreading, popping up in unlikely places, and
Microsoft is more like Tourette's Syndrome.
Civileme
