Microsoft Windows: Insecure by Design

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34978-2003Aug23.html

By Rob Pegoraro
The Washington Post
Sunday, August 24, 2003; Page F07 

Between the Blaster worm and the Sobig virus, it's been a long two 
weeks for Windows users. But nobody with a Mac or a Linux PC has had 
to lose a moment of sleep over these outbreaks -- just like in earlier 
"malware" epidemics.

This is not a coincidence.

The usual theory has been that Windows gets all the attacks because 
almost everybody uses it. But millions of people do use Mac OS X and 
Linux, a sufficiently big market for plenty of legitimate software 
developers -- so why do the authors of viruses and worms rarely take 
aim at either system? 

Even if that changed, Windows would still be an easier target. In its 
default setup, Windows XP on the Internet amounts to a car parked in a 
bad part of town, with the doors unlocked, the key in the ignition and 
a Post-It note on the dashboard saying, "Please don't steal this."

Not opening strange e-mail attachments helps to keep Windows secure 
(not to mention it's plain common sense), but it isn't enough. 

The vulnerabilities built in: Security starts with closing doors that 
don't need to be open. On a PC, these doors are called "ports" -- 
channels to the Internet reserved for specific tasks, such as 
publishing a Web page.

These ports are what network worms like Blaster crawl in through, 
exploiting bugs in an operating system to implant themselves. (Viruses 
can't move on their own and need other mechanisms, such as e-mail or 
floppy disks, to spread.) It's canonical among security experts that 
unneeded ports should be closed. 

Windows XP Home Edition, however, ships with five ports open, behind 
which run "services" that serve no purpose except on a computer 
network.

"Messenger Service," for instance, is designed to listen for alerts 
sent out by a network's owner, but on a home computer all it does is 
receive ads broadcast by spammers. The "Remote Procedure Call" feature 
exploited by Blaster is, to quote a Microsoft advisory, "not intended 
to be used in hostile environments such as the Internet."

Jeff Jones, Microsoft's senior director for "trustworthy computing," 
said the company was heeding user requests when XP was designed: "What 
customers were demanding was network compatibility, application 
compatibility."

But they weren't asking for easily cracked PCs either. Now, Jones 
said, Microsoft believes it's better to leave ports shut until users 
open the ones they need. But any change to this dangerous default 
configuration will only come in some future update.

In comparison, Mac OS X ships with zero ports open to the Internet.

The firewall that's down: A firewall provides further defense against 
worms, rejecting dangerous Internet traffic.

Windows XP includes basic firewall software (it doesn't monitor 
outgoing connections), but it's inactive unless you use its "wizard" 
software to set up a broadband connection. Turning it on is a 
five-step task in Microsoft's directions (www.microsoft.com/protect) 
that must be repeated for every Internet connection on a PC. 

Mac OS X's firewall isn't enabled by default either, but it's much 
simpler to enable. Red Hat Linux is better yet: Its firewall is on 
from the start.

The patches that aren't downloaded: Windows is better than most 
operating systems at easing the drudgery of staying on top of patches 
and bug fixes, since it can automatically download them. A PC kept 
current with Microsoft's security updates would have survived this 
week unscathed.

But hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Windows systems still 
got Blasted, even though the patch to stop this worm was released 
weeks ago.

Part of this is users' fault. "Critical updates" are called that for a 
reason, and it's foolish to ignore them. (The same goes for not 
installing and updating anti-virus software.) 

The chance of a patch wrecking Windows is dwarfed by the odds that an 
unpatched PC will get hit. And for those saying they don't trust 
Microsoft to fix their systems, I have one question: If you don't 
trust this company, why did you give it your money?

Microsoft, however, must share blame, too. Windows XP's pop-up 
invitations to use Windows Update must compete for attention with all 
of XP's other, less important nags -- get a Passport account, take a 
tour of XP, hide unused desktop icons, blah, blah, blah.

Microsoft's critical updates also are absent from retail copies of 
Windows XP, forcing buyers into lengthy Windows Update sessions to get 
the fixes since last year's Service Pack 1 upgrade. At least the 
version of XP provided to PC manufacturers is refreshed once a quarter 
or so -- and Microsoft says it's working to shorten this lag.

The lack of any limit to damage: Windows XP, by default, provides 
unrestricted, "administrator" access to a computer. This sounds like a 
good thing but is not, because any program, worms and viruses 
included, also has unrestricted access.

Yet administrator mode is the only realistic choice: XP Home's 
"limited account," the only other option, doesn't even let you adjust 
a PC's clock.

Mac OS X and Linux get this right: Users get broad rights, but 
critical system tasks require entering a password. If, for instance, a 
virus wants to install a "backdoor" for further intrusions, you'll 
have to authorize it. This fail-safe isn't immune to user gullibility 
and still allows the total loss or theft of your data, but it beats 
Windows' anything-goes approach.

Because Microsoft blew off security concerns for so long, millions of 
PCs remain unpatched, ready for the next Windows-transmitted disease. 
Microsoft needs to do more than order up another round of "Protect 
Your PC" ads.

Here's a modest proposal: Microsoft should use some of its $49 billion 
hoard to mail an update CD to anybody who wants one. At $3 a pop (a 
liberal estimate), it could ship a disc to every human being on Earth 
-- and still have $30 billion in the bank.

Living with technology, or trying to? E-mail Rob Pegoraro at 
rob () twp com. 



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