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Windows Vista: Viruses already


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Windows Vista: Viruses already
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Ichiban_jay
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Join Date: Apr 2005
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2005-08-04, 19:16

Wow, can it be any sadder? As posted in Maccentral, first found it posted on Yahoo News:

First family of Windows Vista viruses unleashed

An Austrian hacker earned the dubious distinction of writing what are thought to be the first known viruses for Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Vista operating system. Written in July, the viruses take advantage of a new command shell, code-named Monad, that is included in the Windows Vista beta code.

The viruses were published last month in a virus-writing tutorial written for an underground hacker group calling itself the Ready Ranger Liberation Front, and take advantage of security vulnerabilities in the new command shell. Unlike the traditional Windows graphical user interface, which relies heavily on the mouse for navigation, command shells allow users to use powerful text-based commands, much like Windows’ predecessor, DOS.

The viruses were written by a hacker calling himself “Second Part To Hell,” and published on July 21, just days after Monad was publicly released by Microsoft, according to Mikko Hyppönen, chief research officer with Helsinki’s F-Secure Corp. Second Part To Hell is the pseudonym of an Austrian-based hacker who also goes by the name Mario, Hyppönen said.

Because of its sophistication, the new command shell offers new opportunities for hackers, Second Part To Hell wrote in the tutorial, a copy of which was obtained by the IDG News Service. “Monad will be like Linux’s BASH (Bourne Again Shell) — that means a great number of commands and functions,” he wrote. “We will be able to make as huge and complex scripts as we do in Linux.”

F-Secure has named the virus family Danom (Monad in reverse). After examining the code, Hyppönen said that the Danom family is disruptive, but not capable of causing significant damage to Windows users. “These are proof of concept viruses,” he said, “Where virus writers want to break new ground and write the first viruses for a new platform.”

Most security experts had not expected to see a Windows Vista virus so soon, Hyppönen said. “The only surprise here is that it came so early,” he said. “It’s been eight days since the beta of the operating system was out.” Monad was released several days prior to the Windows Vista beta.

Still, Danom’s release does raise questions about whether or not Microsoft should enable the Monad shell by default in Windows Vista.

Because Monad’s scripting capabilities will only be used by advanced users, Hyppönen believes Microsoft should not offer the software as part of the standard Windows Vista package when it becomes commercially available in the second half of 2006. This would make the software less prevalent, and therefore less attractive to virus writers, he said.

Microsoft “got burned,” by including similar software, called Windows Script Host, by default in its Windows 2000 operating system, he said. “Since it was on the system, all the virus writers were exploiting it,” he said.

Microsoft was unable to comment on this story at press time.
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HezMah19
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Join Date: Jul 2005
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2005-08-04, 20:13

MS just cant win...it almost makes u feel sorry for them, ALMOST

I personally will be pointing and laughing

Last edited by HezMah19 : 2005-08-04 at 20:14.
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atomicbartbeans
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2005-08-04, 20:30

Seems like every time they add something new, somebody finds a way to exploit it. Whereas with OS X, new features generally mean better security.
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psmith2.0
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Join Date: May 2004
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2005-08-04, 20:34

Apple could totally have them on the ropes (not saying the "entire world will go Mac", but I'm saying tons and tons of frustrated, ticked-off consumers and small businesses looking for a viable alternative).

I know Vista isn't out for a long time, but it's not as though the current version of Windows is a solid iron ship either.

But Apple won't be aggressive or pro-active, unfortunately.

Maybe they're just worried they couldn't churn out enough Macs if word REALLY got out?



Yeah, THAT'S the reason they don't promote themselves more! I've figured it all out!

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atomicbartbeans
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2005-08-04, 20:42

Nah, they just want us to feel special.
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goingin
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2005-08-05, 08:02

Sorry to spoil the fun a bit guys, but it's not really a Vista-virus. It's just a proof-of-concept virus for the Microsoft Command Shell (MSH). This shell will replace cmd and command.com in current Windows versions, but is not yet included in the Vista beta. Also, the beta of MSH is not yet public, and it's a beta, so Microsoft has got plenty of time to sort out these bugs.

It's not that I love Windows, but to claim that Vista has viruses already is a bit unfair
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praesidi
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Join Date: Aug 2005
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2005-08-05, 08:21

Hi, my first post. I'm a new mac owner and this is probably the main reason why I switched (that, and the beautiful OS X). I was just tired of dealing with the threat of viruses and hackers. Though I'm still cautious, I don't mind leaving my iMac on 24/7 - something I never would do with the PC.

Proof-of-concept or not, it is an indication that as long as Windows is around, people will try to crack it and will usually succeed.
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Franz Josef
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2005-08-05, 08:33

Quote:
Originally Posted by goingin

It's not that I love Windows, but to claim that Vista has viruses already is a bit unfair
Maybe. But Vista will be poor and people will (probably) still buy it. What an unfair world
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Banana
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Join Date: Feb 2005
 
2005-08-05, 08:59



When will MS actually flush out the legacy software and build a real OS from ground up??

Surely they'd have noticed that legacy problem would be less of a problem if they created a classic environment? Surely they'd have noticed that OS X I successful, and say, "hey that's what we should do."

Nooooo, they go and build another crappy one. :eer:

Go figure.
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morningstarrising
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2005-08-05, 11:12

It sounds simple right? But it's not.

Apple had the luxury of going to OSX, I mean they have nothing to lose and alot to gain.

Now think of Microsoft and think of everything they have to lose if they try to do what Apple did and build a whole new OS. Think of the colossal lost for MS and gain for Open-Source. It's a double edge sword for MS.

These are the reasons why Apple hasn't be aggressive or pro-active. Not becasue they don't want to(Beleive me all the Tiger ads I seen prove that) but it is because they don't have the safety net of Microsoft with the move to OSX and now the faailure of the PowerPC prosessor, Apple can not be aggressive till they have a road map that won't change in another 5 years. That's the stuff that scares away developer and customers.

I believe we will see more aggressive and pro-action from Apple once the Intel move is complete. OSX is proving to be a succesful and secure product and Intel won't "Motorola" it up with the processor(hopefully) and for the first tiem in a long while, Apple will have a safety net that they can count on when they fight Microsoft and Linux head on.
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sunrain
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2005-08-05, 11:45

Quote:
Originally Posted by morningstarrising
...Apple will have a safety net that they can count on when they fight Microsoft and Linux head on.
Apple doesn't have to fight Linux, unless they want to try and gain market share in servers. Somehow I think they'll go after the desktop market first and Linux already has wrapped up the "I don't mind a convoluted and inconsistent user environment" segment of desktop users.

"What a computer is to me is it's the most remarkable tool that we've ever come up with, and it's the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds."
- Steve Jobs

Last edited by sunrain : 2005-08-05 at 11:47.
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morningstarrising
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2005-08-05, 12:38

Be it Linux or Open-Source, you can't count it out, specially when it only takes one person(or group) to make it a contender.
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Banana
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2005-08-05, 13:18

morningstarrising, good point, yet...

They could just have built a new OS in secrecy, and when its ready, implement it, and itd have full legacy support without the weaknesses. Isn't that what Apple did with OS X for last five years?

AFAIK, Vista isn't a new slate; its just yet one more update on a husk of dead corn.... I suppose M$ has their heads so far up their asses, they can't find the way out....
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Brad
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Join Date: May 2004
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2005-08-05, 13:25

Quote:
Originally Posted by Banana
They could just have built a new OS in secrecy, and when its ready, implement it, and itd have full legacy support without the weaknesses. Isn't that what Apple did with OS X for last five years?
Not really, no.

Classic was originally called Blue Box and had been public knowledge since the earliest road maps of Rhapsody (the original code name for Mac OS X). There was no secrecy to it. Even today after four major revisions, Mac OS X does not offer full legacy support in Classic. A lot of older software will simply never run again on Mac OS X and there's nothing we can do about it.

Apple did a very good job, but it was far from perfection.

Or are you referring to Mac OS X on Intel? In that case, your analogy is severely flawed and carries very little merit. Mac OS X on Intel is the exact same operating system; it's just compiled for a different CPU. Implementing binary emulation/translation is nothing like getting converting apps that use old APIs to use new APIs. Heck, even with Mac OS X on Intel, a portion of current Mac OS X software are not going to run as-is.

The quality of this board depends on the quality of the posts. The only way to guarantee thoughtful, informative discussion is to write thoughtful, informative posts. AppleNova is not a real-time chat forum. You have time to compose messages and edit them before and after posting.
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Banana
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Join Date: Feb 2005
 
2005-08-05, 14:16

All right- I didn't have my facts straight. It just seems that if they put in some effort, they can pull out a real, robust, and stable OS with a sandbox environment for legacy shits. But....
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rasmits
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Join Date: Oct 2004
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2005-08-06, 02:19

I'm sure Microsoft has the developers to do that, they're just to proud to concede in defeat.

Windows NT, to them, is the god of all operating systems. They'd never be able to embrace an open source standard like Apple did.

So if they DID start from the ground up, it'd be just as bad as NT.
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Franz Josef
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Join Date: Jan 2005
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2005-08-06, 02:43

I listen to some of the tech (non Mac specific) podcasts and you get some great in depth stories about M$ cock-ups - whether apocryphal or not. Even outside Mac users, M$ has such a bad reputation.
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bassplayinMacFiend
Banging the Bottom End
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
 
2005-08-08, 12:21

Well, MS found a way to keep Monad from being an entry point for viruses. They've officially pulled it from Vista. Ha ... haha.... hooohoooohhuuuuuheeeeehaaaaa ahahahahahahahaha. Scratch another line item from the Vista 'feature list'.
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