Articles
Category: Miscellany
That’s Gotta Hurt
The first proof of concept virus has been written for Microsoft’s next generation operating system, Windows Vista (formerly code-named Longhorn). The first beta version was released in July, and less than a week later, an Austrian hacker had already listed instructions on a hacker group website on how to write a virus for the new command line shell that is included in Windows Vista. The recommendation of security experts is to make the shell available only as an installable option, and not include it by default to make it less attractive to virus writers. It is a power user feature, so this could be a feasible option to help reduce the spread of viruses based on this shell.Evidently, despite Microsoft’s claims that they are putting many more resources into security, they aren’t doing a good enough job.
What a day . . .
It must be due to a combination of factors, like the fact that I have a one-way ticket, and the fact that I got to the airport so early that they graciously switched me to an earlier flight. But, whatever the reasons, I was flagged for special attention at the security checkpoint. Basically this meant doing the same stuff I normally would, with the exception of waiting longer, getting the wand by hand, and getting patted down. They also hand-checked my carry-on and swabbed it for explosives (and probably drugs while they were at it). That still left me with about 2 hours until my new flight time, though.
