cool. :) Build a better mouse trap & get a better bever. :D

Ya know chances are we already have 3 or 4 of those covert spywares on our computers for various "homeland security" reasons. Why wouldn't we?

I bet these will be debated for a short while in the press at some date in the distant future. We'll just sit back quietly and think wow, they had my phone records, my bank history, and my computer usage history. But we won't care too much, and we won't get off our lazy buts and do anything about it, will we? We will just say hmmm, that's strange and move on to the next interesting subject like American Idle or whatever.

Let's face it, in the end, our only option for true privacy is to unplug and return to the analog world. I'd rather plug in and have some fun.

Did you ever wonder why the Chinese government prohibits Windows OS from being installed on their national security related computers?

Ya know chances are we already have 3 or 4 of those covert spywares on our computers for various "homeland security" reasons.

Oh, come on. My mother-in-law, for ten years before she died, was a schizophrenic. She was on some heavy-duty medication to help her deal with the problem. However, when she forgot her medications, she would come over and tell all of us to be careful about eating the pizza because "they" had put heroin on the pizza. That was always one of her favorites. It was pretty spooky to hear, but we learned to make light of it. What else can you do? Fortunately, she didn't have a computer, so she didn't have to worry about undetectable rootkit threats.

Folks, get a grip! Symantec and the rest of them can and will detect this stuff and provide ways to remove it, if indeed it exists. While computers can be puzzling in many ways, finding things that don't belong is one of the easier things to do.

Now, stopping them from getting there in the first place, that's a different story ...

my gandfather belive "they" wouldn't let Buffalo win a superbowl/stanley cup because it's not an important enough city to win.

So far he's right. :D

Symantec and the rest of them can and will detect this stuff and provide ways to remove it...

So far, Symantec has been better at creating problems than removing them.

Get Trend Micro instead, it doesn't mess up your computer like Norton 2006 has done for many (see Amazon's user reviews, they'll make your hair stand straight up).

> This all happens on-the-fly (i.e. without restarting the system) and there is no performance penalty..."

Hey, maybe they can sell this technology to Microsoft so that they can finally make an operating system that doesn’t have to be rebooted just because you installed a new word processor! ;-)

~jr

Good idea!

It's odd, because there has been a lot of progress over the last few years towards better installers (like InstallShield) that don't require reboots afterwards.

my gandfather belive "they" wouldn't let Buffalo win a superbowl/stanley cup because it's not an important enough city to win.

In this case, your grandfather was right.

Get Trend Micro instead,

I heartily agree. I only used Symantec as the example because, unfortunately, they are the market leader. Their software is evil and should be removed from every computer ASAP, a job I've done for people dozens of times, always receiving copious thanks after their computer suddenly started running smoothly again.

It's odd, because there has been a lot of progress over the last few years towards better installers (like InstallShield) that don't require reboots afterwards.

Thank goodness for that. Rebooting after installation is completely stupid.

"Folks, get a grip! Symantec and the rest of them can and will detect this stuff and provide ways to remove it, if indeed it exists. While computers can be puzzling in many ways, finding things that don't belong is one of the easier things to do."

Not quite so - that's the problem with rootkits - once installed, they are nearly impossible to find. What the malware security publishers look for is a signature of the rootkit before it gets installed.

Steve M.

What the malware security publishers look for is a signature of the rootkit before it gets installed.

So the bad guys add a space or 00H at the end, and now the rootkit is completely invisible to the signature-based security scanners.

The problem is that we are sitting in a boat (Windows) that springs leaks very easily.

Everytbody works hard to come up with better hand scoops and faster bilge pumps to salvage the ship, when it would make more sense to get a better hull in the first place.

Maybe it should be done in this style---any software that wants to enter trips a warning menu that says, "permission to enter sir", and the OS menu says to you, "if you wish to allow this software to enter recite the pledge of allegence in Hebrew then tap on your computer case five times today".
JJK

> … it would make more sense to get a better hull in the first place.

So should I start my Vegas on Linux petition now? ;-)

~jr

Vegas could be ported to Linux as soon as the smoke has cleared from the GUI battle... :O)

At least in OS X, even if you're running as Admin, it still asks you to confirm with your Admin credentials before installing anything, whether from a web site, a CD-ROM, a flash key fob, a folder, or anything else.

"At least in OS X, even if you're running as Admin, it still asks you to confirm with your Admin credentials before installing anything, whether from a web site, a CD-ROM, a flash key fob, a folder, or anything else." I would not bet the farm or retirement fund on that OS X does not have backdoors built in. Remember "Jobs" is very "concerned" about music, software abuse and Ipod use. Updating tracking software, to be one up on the pirates, requires to be done in invisible mode to general IT managers and users. Most IT managers reject outside tracking of their system assets by software they can not control or monitor. These two issues do not go hand and hand together. But the "money" is soo large that "Jobs" or "Gates" are not going to pass on building backdoors into their products for tracking music,.........

At least in OS X, even if you're running as Admin, it still asks you to confirm with your Admin credentials before installing anything, whether from a web site, a CD-ROM, a flash key fob, a folder, or anything else.

That is an improvement.

But, many of these problems seem to occur when a user knowingly installs package A and then gets ambushed by the underlying package B.

Like the Sony CDs that put a licensing rootkit on your machine. Average unsuspecting user would click "Ok" because they want to view the multimedia goodies. Or the TurboTax program that put CDilla on your machine for licensing which then permanently runs on the machine and damages your OS if you uninstall it.

For my own part, I don't worry much about these things. I don't go crazy installing things from the Internet. And I backup my system quite frequently.

You need to read the article carefully.
This is a technique, not an exploit. It can in theory be done with ANY OS, Linux, OSX or Windoz as it doesn't rely on any backdoors or security holes.

OSX has more holes in it than Windoz, the only thing keeping it safe is it's sparce isolated population. A valid comparison would be European explorers landing in South America. They were riddled with disease but their immune systems were primed to stave off the diseases, the local, never infected population never stood a chance. What's even more of a worry is the security companies have been trying to get Apple to fix security holes but hey, why worry, nothing important runs on Macs.

Bob.

OSX has more holes in it than Windoz, the only thing keeping it safe is it's sparce isolated population.

That is not likely.

Windows holds all world records for number of security flaws, and many of these problems are caused by poor design and negligent assumptions.

Basic problem? The core was designed pre-internet by a minicomputer OS designer who was creating a new OS (NT) based on his experience with the physical security of computer rooms.

OS X is not without security flaws, but it is at least better designed in several key areas.