Today was ‘Patch-The-PCs’ day. Fixing the Microsoft Windows security flaws, that is. A big thank you to the LSD Research Group for spotting the kinks in the armour, and not releasing the source code over the Internet for evil hackers to prey on.
If Microsoft were a car manufacturer, there’d be countless casualties, product recalls and multiple lawsuits at hand. In reality, nobody’s really batting an eyelid because we’re already conditioned to the fact that things will never be perfect. The Microsoft share price has dipped slightly by US$0.83 (-3.02%) to $26.69, but in other news, the company has posted a huge third quarter profit.
The US Army and Department of Homeland Security might just want to re-think their recent software contracts with Microsoft:
“Microsoft wants to boost sales to government anti-terrorism and security agencies. The company has been working to reassure federal authorities who said they were concerned about Microsoft security after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. In March, a hacker breached a Defense Department computer through a flaw in Microsoft’s Windows… Microsoft last month [June 2003] won its biggest contract ever, a $478 million, six-year deal with the Army.” Source: the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
[On an unrelated note, the USDHS is now using blogs to keep track of their correspondence. Hmm. ]