MyDoom sparks talks of security's future

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I'll give it a shot.

"If you can think of something specific that MS isn't doing
that it can do to protect its users against such attacks, then
state it. I'm all ears."

As someone who uses both Mac and Windows, I see some
very distinct differences in how this issue is dealt with.
While there are few if any Mac viruses or worms, I can see
differences in the way the operating systems deal with files
that install programs on your computer and mail
attachments and the like.

In Windows, for example, if you try to open an attachment,
you get a warning that opening an attachment might be
harmful. This happens regardless of the file type, so you
get totally unnecessary warning when you try to open the
most innocuous files, including plain text, images, PDFs,
etc. I think these unnecessary warnings are the equivalent
of crying "wolf." You can't really blame the users if they
begin to believe that these messages are something they
can safely ignore after a while. Furthermore, if you save the
file to disk first, then go and open it, you don't get any
warning at all, even though it is no less dangerous than
opening it directly from the mail message. An exe is just an
exe, as far as the operating system knows, and it would be
crazy to give you a warning every time an exe file starts up.
That would really be crying "wolf."

On the Mac you can open any attachment at all without
getting a warning. Even if the file is executable, there's no
problem with running it whether it's attached to a mail
message or not. But, if the program is an executable, and it
tries to install something on your hard drive, a dialog opens
up telling you that it is trying to install something, and you
have to enter an administrative password to allow it to
continue. So the warnings are few in number, and very
specific, and you need to do more than just click "OK" to
approve it. If you received an executable attachment that
said it was a game or something, and you opened it, and
you got a warning that it was going to install something,
it's pretty obvious that it's not what it was advertised to be,
and if you weren't damn sure of its source, you have to be
nuts to enter your password. The clear advantage of Mac
OS over Windows in this respect is that the OS is better at
distinguishing different kinds of files, different kinds of
users, and different kinds of actions, and it only warns you
if something potentially serious is about to happen. It never
warns you about trying to open a plain text file.

Unix and Linux have similar safeguards, but I'll leave it up
to someone with more expertise to explain how they work.

Posted by: Immanuel Tranz-Mischen   Posted on: 02/03/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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