Bonum Certa Men Certa

Vista 7 Cracked Again

Window



Summary: Windows security still broken, judging by Pwn2Own

WINDOWS is not doing terribly well. The margins are low and Microsoft relies on bundling alone (which requires a hardware buying spree). Looking at the past week's news, there was one headline alone with "Vista" in it and just 5 clusters of headlines about "Windows 7", 1 of which was a whitepaper.



Vista 7 is hardly mentioned these days, except for occasional complaints or PR fluff. Microsoft continues to improperly count "sales" and we have already explained how Microsoft fakes these to achieve an illusion of success. In many ways, Vista 7 is just Vista, but it looks a little different (notably the new deskbar). "Well the initial impression is how much it looks like Vista," said Microsoft's booster Jack Schofield about Vista 7, "Which I think is…uh…the thing I’m not supposed to say."

In previous posts we showed that Vista 7 is considered worse when it come to security than its predecessor, Windows Vista. To name some posts on the subject:



According to IDG, "Hacker busts IE8 on Windows 7 in 2 minutes"

Two researchers yesterday won $10,000 each at the Pwn2Own hacking contest by bypassing important security measures of Windows 7.

Both Peter Vreugdenhil of the Netherlands and a German researcher who would only identify himself by the first name Nils found ways to disable DEP (data execution prevention) and ASLR (address space layout randomization), which are two of Windows 7's most vaunted anti-exploit features. Each contestant faced down the fully-patched 64-bit version of Windows 7 and came out a winner.


"Hacker Bypasses Windows 7 Anti-Exploit Features In IE 8 Hack," reports Dark Reading, a Web site which is focused on security issues.

A Dutch researcher won $10,000 in the Pwn2Own hacking contest this week for hacking Internet Explorer 8 on a Windows 7 machine -- bypassing built-in anti-exploit features in the operating system.


From Microsoft sites comes a bit of spin and it's worth noting that Apple's proprietary products got cracked too.

Miller used one of the flaws he found by dumb fuzzing yesterday to exploit Safari on a MacBook Pro, walking off with the notebook, $10,000 and a free trip to Las Vegas this summer to the DefCon hacking conference.


Here is an interview with Miller and a summary from The Inquirer that says: "Apple and Microsoft get trashed by hackers again"

Some months ago we wrote about Microsoft entering Telstra [1, 2], so the following new item is also worth mentioning.

Telstra Corporation director of security services, Andy Solterback, has responded to claims by Microsoft that it has largely fixed security problems.


It is now being claimed the Internet attacks which are mostly caused by Windows zombies hit Seattle the most.

Seattle is top, according to the report, for cyberattacks and potential infections and online behaviour that can lead to cybercrime, like online shops, online banks and wi-fi.


It is rather interesting that Windows zombies go right back where they came from.

Recent Techrights' Posts

SoylentNews Grows Up, Registers as a Business, Site Traffic Reportedly Grows
More people realise that social control media may in fact be a passing fad
 
Richard Stallman's Talks in Switzerland This Week
We need to put an end to 'cancer culture'; it's trying to kill people and it is even swatting people
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, March 28, 2024
IRC logs for Thursday, March 28, 2024
[Meme] EPO's New Ways of Working (NWoW), a.k.a. You Don't Even Get a Desk at Work and Cannot be Near Known Colleagues
Seems more like union-busting (divide and rule)
Hiding Microsoft's Culpability in Security Breaches and Other Major Blunders (in the United Kingdom, This May Mean You Can't Get Food)
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is vast
Giving back to the community
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 28/03/2024: Sega, Nintendo, and Bell Layoffs
Links for the day
Open letter to the ACM regarding Codes of Conduct impersonating the Code of Ethics
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
With 9 Mentions of Azure In Its Latest Blog Post, Canonical is Again Promoting Microsoft and Intel Vendor Lock-in, Surveillance, Back Doors, Considerable Power Waste, and Defects That Cannot be Fixed
Microsoft did not even have to buy Canonical (for Canonical to act like it happened)
Links 28/03/2024: GAFAM Replacing Full-Time Workers With Interns Now
Links for the day
Consent & Debian's illegitimate constitution
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
The Time Our Server Host Died in a Car Accident
If Debian has internal problems, then they need to be illuminated and then tackled, at the very least in order to ensure we do not end up with "Deadian"
China's New 'IT' Rules Are a Massive Headache for Microsoft
On the issue of China we're neutral except when it comes to human rights issues
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, March 27, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, March 27, 2024
WeMakeFedora.org: harassment decision, victory for volunteers and Fedora Foundations
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 27/03/2024: Terrorism Grows in Africa, Unemployment in Finland Rose Sharply in a Year, Chinese Aggression Escalates
Links for the day
Links 27/03/2024: Ericsson and Tencent Layoffs
Links for the day
Amid Online Reports of XBox Sales Collapsing, Mass Layoffs in More Teams, and Windows Making Things Worse (Admission of Losses, Rumours About XBox Canceled as a Hardware Unit)...
Windows has loads of issues, also as a gaming platform
Links 27/03/2024: BBC Resorts to CG Cruft, Akamai Blocking Blunders in Piracy Shield
Links for the day
Android Approaches 90% of the Operating Systems Market in Chad (Windows Down From 99.5% 15 Years Ago to Just 2.5% Right Now)
Windows is down to about 2% on the Web-connected client side as measured by statCounter
Sainsbury's: Let Them Eat Yoghurts (and Microsoft Downtimes When They Need Proper Food)
a social control media 'scandal' this week
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, March 26, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Windows/Client at Microsoft Falling Sharply (Well Over 10% Decline Every Quarter), So For His Next Trick the Ponzi in Chief Merges Units, Spices Everything Up With "AI"
Hiding the steep decline of Windows/Client at Microsoft?
Free technology in housing and construction
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
We Need Open Standards With Free Software Implementations, Not "Interoperability" Alone
Sadly we're confronting misguided managers and a bunch of clowns trying to herd us all - sometimes without consent - into "clown computing"
Microsoft's Collapse in the Web Server Space Continued This Month
Microsoft is the "2%", just like Windows in some countries