Virus disguises itself as MSN Messenger beta

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Au contraire...

Hi, mjb.

You said:

Just like port 80, your USB hub, keyboard and any other way to access your computer is a 'back door'. What's the point if you can't use it? Might as well take the doors and windows off of your house, that way no one will break in.

Port 80 is actually useful, in addition to the fact that you have full control over it. You never have and never will have full control over an MSN install, because it's a proprietary program with closed source.

Hell, you can't even remove MSN Messenger without jumping through hoops. See:

http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=288

In contrast, a USB hub and a keyboard are most definitely front doors. Both of them require physical access to your machine to do any damage.

Any time you hook yourself up to a network, you open yourself up to danger. That much of what you said is true. But there's a difference between going for a drive in your car (which involves some risks) and going for a drive in your car after you've downed a bottle of tequilla (which involves considerably more risk).

Now, obviously, you could make the same objections to some other instant message clients (e.g., AIM) but to claim that having MSN Messenger on your machine is no more dangerous than having a keyboard is simply silly.

Posted by: bhartman36   Posted on: 12/28/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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