Microsoft & National Security

Why Microsoft is a threat not only to consumers, but also to national security.



Why are there so many viruses on Microsoft Windows as compared to Macintosh and Linux? It's because Windows holds a near monopoly on the market. If you want to sabotage computer users and networks, Windows is your natural choice. The "Code Red" worm/virus for example, only affects Microsoft systems (Windows/Outlook). As did the 'ILOVEYOU' virus. And Melissa. And more recently the SQL Slammer worm.

Attacking computer infrastructures is made a lot easier when there is a large homogeneous environment you need to be concerned about and not many small and very different environments.

For the very same reasons, if you want to protect computer infrastructures, the equally natural thing to do is make the networks (servers, operating systems and applications) much more varied and diverse.

The conclusion is simple, the dominance of Microsoft has become a threat to national security. A virus s many times more dangerous in the current environment where pretty much everything runs on some combinaiton of Microsoft OS, applications and networks. According to The Radicati Group, there will be 302 million corporate e-mail mailboxes worldwide this year - 35% of which will be powered by Microsoft Exchange. Gartner estimated in 2002 that 40% of business e-mail systems worldwide were claimed by Microsoft Express and Outlook.

Rest of the article:
www.liquidinformation.org...

Be very careful what you say in this thread.

I am the Sales Manager for the North of England for Microsoft Corp. UK. Reading.

Originally posted by boomhaur
Be very careful what you say in this thread.

I am the Sales Manager for the North of England for Microsoft Corp. UK. Reading.

Don�t worry i work in an IT support center, we also work and provide microsoft support, and we do have access to Seattle

I know what i am talking about, this is an article i didn�t write so i don�t need to worry

Anyway Any Corp on this earth is more than evil...

ya dont talk bad to about microsoft, you might hurt an employees feelings.

maybe theyll think about who they work for and realize how much the consequences of the "im just doin my job, just tryin to feed my kids" attitude will effect their kids and grandkids...etc

Entertaining how one man who chased his dreams, accomplished great things, produced a product loved and used world round, revolutionized computing, and made an interface that a 90 year old grand ma could use to gain access to new and evolving technology.... Is instantly dubbed *evil*

The United States Government spends 399 Billion a year on defense... Im sure if they felt Microsoft was a threat, they could afford to write their own programming..

After all, The DOD made game "Americas Army" was made.... for windows.

"In, and up to the 80's 80% of research was funded by the military. Now, over 90% by business - RAND (TV Cyber War. BBC2 Fri 21 Feb '03) Are we happy giving that much responsibility to one company, Microsoft?

Is a quote from the article, i find it pretty disturbing, because is a 90%!!!!!!!!
Soon is gonna take over the IT market....
And that is not the biggest problem, the biggest problem are the Huge Databases with such amount of personal data from people all over the world.
We should be careful with the Corporations, they are the tool of the NWO, even the police is becoming a corp


Keep an eye on the moves of the elites, don�t loose them!!

i have no other words to say but this is it
Ready,Aim,Hackkkk

Privacy Groups Dismiss Microsoft NSA Denial
September 7, 1999 (7:41 a.m. EST)
By Guy Middleton, TechWeb News

Microsoft moved swiftly on Friday to deny allegations that it included an NSA (U.S. National Security Agency) back door into the Windows operating system.
"The report is inaccurate and unfounded. The key in question is a Microsoft key. It is maintained and safeguarded by Microsoft, and we have not shared this key with the NSA or any other party," the company said in a statement.

The key, which works with the Microsoft Cryptographic API (MS-CAPI) is labelled as "NSA key".

Andrew Fernandes, chief scientist with Cryptonym of Morrisville, North Carolina, was quoted last week as saying the inclusion of the key made it easier for the NSA to compromise a Windows user's security, without their knowledge.

"Microsoft takes security very seriously. This speculation is ironic since Microsoft has consistently opposed the various key escrow proposals suggested by the government because we don't believe they are good for consumers, the industry or national security," said Microsoft.

Microsoft added the key had not, and would not be made available to any third party.

The software company said the key was labeled NSA because the NSA acted as the review body for the restricted export of encryption technology from the U.S., and that key was designed to be compliant with U.S. export laws. Microsoft said the NSA-labeled key was simply a "back-up" for the one used by Microsoft to allow it to update cryptography components (labeled "KEY").

But director of the London-based Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR), Caspar Bowden said: "Building in a 'back up' key makes no sense unless there is a revocation method for the primary (key). There is no revocation method."

Microsoft said the back-up key was there should the original ever be lost due to a natural disaster. The company also acknowledged the name of the key was "unfortunate".

"I don't believe them -- what kind of natural disaster are they talking about? A meteor destroying all the earth's structures?" said Privacy International director general, Simon Davies."Microsoft's argument is inconsistent with its operating procedure -- it could hold a single key in multiple locations, that is a standard security procedure." He added that to compromise user security, "it's not necessary to share access with the NSA -- simply complying with their requirements will do that."

"It goes right to the heart of the deal between (software companies) and global operators. Ultimately we need to be more open about how these systems are developed. Microsoft should have taken this opportunity to talk to us about the requirements of the U.S. government," said Davies.

A few more links

www.nsclean.com...
www.bluealien.org...
www.idg.net...