Re: PSA: Windows PCs face 'huge' virus threat: 1990 - Present

Chris L Peterson wrote: 
On Tue, 3 Jan 2006 08:09:22 -0800, "Mij Adyaw" <mij@xxxxxxxx> wrote:


Why do these vulnerabilities continue to exist and be exploited in Windoze? If I were Bill Gates, I would have a witch-hunt and find who did not plug these holes and as a result, some heads would role. Maybe there would be less holes in the future. 


The problem is with the languages and tools used to develop essentially
all operating systems.


Microsoft has for a long time attatched executable "macro"
software to most of theirdata(picture/doc/music) formats.
In some sense this looks like a valuable feature,like
selecting the right fonts,colors,printers,etc.
However, when that software is smart enough to access the
operating system, anything can and will happen.
Adding to that,you do not need a valid extention on a file
to let something execute.
Just try and copy arj.exe to a.wav, in a command window,
then execute a.wav.
As long as you allow these kind of "features" in "datafiles"
we will never see the last of virus/adware/malware. It is
just to easy for juvenile or commercial bandits to get in by
the backdoor.
Having the system check the filetype against the extension,
should be one of the easiest thing to implement for microsoft,
i assume.
But it shows that essentialy you cannot trust any attatched
file,even if it has a very innocent extension.
I just hope,that most of the above turns out to be wrong,
oh and a "Happy newjear!!".
.

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