Hi listers! An interesting item from ZDNET that I got off of my OS/2 mail list. I hope you enjoy this too. Regards, Dale Mentzer >> --------------------------------------------------------------------- >> >> This article is from ZDNN (http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/). >> Visit this page on the Web at: >> >> >>http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2309474,00.html?chkpt=hpqs014 >> --------------------------------------------------------------------- >> >> In an attempt to burnish its tarnished reputation for network >> security, Microsoft issued an open challenge on Tuesday to the hacking >> community. But potential testers barely got a chance to attempt to >> break Windows 2000's security system, as the test server Microsoft >> offered crashed, then remained down for most of the past 24 hours. >> >> [TABLE NOT SHOWN] Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) placed a Web server running >> the latest beta of Windows 2000 and Internet Information Server (IIS) >> outside its firewalls, and invited the public to go after target files >> and user accounts it placed there. >> >> The company's reason for doing so? "We hope that this kind of open >> testing will allow us to ship our most secure OS yet," said a >> Microsoft spokesperson. >> >> Lukewarm response >> The hacking community was and is largely unimpressed, however. In its >> posted coverage, the Hacker News Network called the challenge "an >> obvious ploy to get free publicity. It is hoped that this is not a >> primary testing method." >> >> [TABLE NOT SHOWN] Members of the Linux-enthusiast site Slashdot for >> the most part concurred, accusing Microsoft of using anti-Microsoft >> sentiment for free auditing. >> >> Meanwhile, the Linux community created a counter-challenge of its own. >> Tuesday afternoon, LinuxPPC, the developers and distributors of a >> PowerPC-native version of Linux, challenged hackers to crack one of >> its servers. >> >> Unlike Microsoft, which did not offer any kind of incentive or award >> to hackers, LinuxPPC is giving the machine to the first person to >> break in. >> >> Whoops! >> If the Microsoft security challenge was meant as a publicity stunt, it >> may have backfired. As soon as the site went online, Microsoft ran >> into technical difficulties with the test server. Early visitors >> reported problems with the home page's HTML and JavaScript -- some >> serious enough to prevent them from accessing the page at all. >> >> Posted status logs indicate that the server had to be rebooted at >> least once because the system log was full, and some services were >> unavailable at reboot. >> >> Most significantly, the server was offline for most of Tuesday due to >> what Microsoft described as "router problems". Though intermittently >> available Wednesday morning, the site was down at press time, and >> appears to have been pulled from DNS servers entirely. Ping tests >> indicated the MS router was functional. >> >> Some Slashdot contributors reported seeing a notice that the site had >> been withdrawn, but no such notice is currently posted on any publicly >> accessible Microsoft server. >> >> A Microsoft spokesperson attributed some of the difficulties to >> thunderstorms in Seattle on Tuesday but had no comment on the site's >> status by press time. This mail written by a user of Arachne, the DOS Internet Client WWWWW World Wide Web Without Windows http://home.arachne.cz Arachne DOS Browser Home Page To unsubscribe from SURVPC send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with unsubscribe SURVPC in the body of the message. Also, trim this footer from any quoted replies.
