RE: "Tech News on ZDNet" -- OS makers: Security is job No. 1

["Gizmo" <gizmo () digistar com>]

Microsoft is all about making Windows 'more secure' because they see a
potential revenue stream.  Note that their approach is NOT "Let's make the
OS more secure so that this crap can't get installed to start with"; rather,
it is "Let's graft more crap onto the system and then sell people a
subscription so that they can be protected from the problems we have
created, at least most of the time".

To be sure, I like Apple's approach even less.  "We want to help the
customer protect their computer"?!

I realize that security requires the cooperation of the user, but providing
the typical user with a readily available list of the processes running in
the system isn't going to do anything but confuse the poor user.

We need to remember that users are generally illiterate when it comes to the
details of how their computer functions.  That's why they are USERS.  They
don't know (or care) how or why their computer works.  All they care about
is that it does what they need for it to do.  Quite frankly, that is all
they really SHOULD have to care about.  It is not necessary for me to
understand all the gory intimate details of how my car works in order for me
to use it in a safe fashion.  The same should be true of my computer.

I dunno, maybe I'm way off base and just too cynical for my own good, but
that's the way I see it.

Later,
Chris


-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Behalf Of Kenneth R. van Wyk
Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2005 6:37 AM
To: Secure Coding Mailing List
Subject: [SC-L] "Tech News on ZDNet" -- OS makers: Security is job No. 1

FYI, somewhat interesting story today on ZDNet (see
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5697133.html?tag=st.prev) about
operating system makers paying more attention to security.  Note the
differing (public)
statements by Microsoft and Apple...
Being fundamentally a "glass half full" sort of person, I think that it's
refreshing to hear that OS vendors are making their products' security a
higher priority than it's typically been in the past.  There's also an
implicit message here regarding a proactive software security posture vs.
"firewall and IDS it" after the product is released.

Cheers,

Ken van Wyk
--
KRvW Associates, LLC
http://www.KRvW.com