Comments on: The Conficker Worm: What Happens Next?

60 Minutes: Computer Worm Could Receive New Instructions On April 1

[TimMorristown]

Now, to the raging debates that are besides the point of protecting our computers.

For those snobs, in whatever OS world, that said essentially "All you have to do is ... not click on X" to be safe, then I suppose you have never had a midnight call from a friend, relative, or co-worker, freaking out because their computer stopped doing what it was supposed to. That's right, real world users (RWUs). RWUs will break, click, and open anything, given enough of them.

I know that the Linux/Mac people laugh into their sleeves about the crazy Windows people who pay for actual firewall and antivirus software. Just wait. If it's built by man, it has flaws. What we all, as professionals in the industry need to do, is work together to shut these places down. We pay for police, we get oil changes on our cars, so there is a right approach for the internet/computer industry to work together. First, do what you can in your own backyard. Use top name services to protect you. Have user policies. But, also be willing to give a little. Help Grandma install Norton OR buy a Mac (I don't care). Just make sure that the machine is locked down properly and has the right updates on.

As for the banking system, I have not the slightest idea how vulnerable we are. Do you? DO banks publish their loss data? Do they talk about it? Do we know the top 15 reasons that a bank account was compromised? (Top two - easy and stolen passwords?) If the Linux/Mac evangelists want us to all swtich over from our HP/Dell/IBM world, and make sure all our backoffice software runs on new machines, I'm all for it. The deal is this: Microsoft has a development program that allowed us to buy cheap, easily managed hardware and software to run our business. So, the business IS on Microsoft and we do what we have to for protection. Just like any other right thinking person whose livelihood depends on a set of tools. The problem is that my business tools can also connect to bad places.
Besides, the OS wars are not over, as the "Mac/PC" ads show. As Linux gets friendlier (Yeah netbooks) and more functional, the battle will go on.

Please, hold your snobbery for the way I look, or dress, but don't be prejudiced against me, because I learned on one tool, and it works, and you learned on another.

Gotta go, turn off this PC before midnight! ;>

-Tim
Morristown, NJ

[cbsantispin]

Linux IS much closer to being a real alternative to Windows, but seriously folks, until it is, Macs ARE the Linux that Linux users wish Linux was: lots of software, across the board compatibility with other platforms, few, if any driver problems, standards-compliant Intel hardware and a very wealthy and successful company behind the core, open-source core of the Mac OS, BSD Unix. And let's not forget that Apple essentially wrote the book on user-friendly software from the original Mac to the iPod and iPhone and for the last 8 years Apple has fine-tuned its implementation of the Mac OS with the BSD Unix kernel.

If you want a server-grade 'ix distribution, it would be hard to find a more user-friendly system than the Mac OS.

But I am happy that Linux keeps growing and improving. It helps drive the options that Windows users have and more options are good for all.

JoeL
Atlanta, GA

Posted by at 12:45 PM : Mar 30, 2009

I agree with you up to a point, I use them all, MAC, LINUX and Windows. If money is an issue and in this economy money is very much an issue, then LINUX is the way to go, LINUX is FREE, like $0.00 dollars! MACS are pricey and so is some of the best MAC software, and again LINUX software is FREE as in $0.00 dollars. You start to get the picture? So a person has to invest a little time learning their way around LINUX, its worth it since it won't cost you anything but an investment in time and cheap computer hardware, LINUX will run on anything! The keyword with LINUX is everything is FREE, FREE, FREE!! $0.00 :) A lot of people like FREE, that's why LINUX is so popular! :)

[mkeyj]

My God this reminds me of the Disco era with all of the wanton sex and parting and then AIDS hit to end all of the fun. Is this virius the new AIDS to the internet?

[TimMorristown]

Dear Leslie-

After reading the comments, I am concerned that you should address the apparent issues in your piece about Russians, 14 Year old gangster hackers and such. If you were duped by an old picture of a Finnish boy, as others have said, you should respond.

As for the Mac and Linux users who want Microsoft hoisted on their own petard, I don't think that a warning that affects 90+% of all PC users is wrong, although it was an oversight to not mention that this particular threat does not affect Mac and Linux machines.

As a computer professional, I want to applaud the reach of your audience, I received 4 calls alone from my family asking "Is this true? What do I do?" While it is not 60 Minutes' style to give prescriptions for the fear it creates, I would have appreciated the appropriate level of instruction to convince people that while the worst can happen, it is not happening in large parts of the internet where responsible people use skills and services (yes, that we sometimes buy from Symantec) to sleep at night.

-Tim

[k2xl]

Also, another thing, the demo that the Norton CEO showed of the hacking of Leslie's computer is very misleading. Most users do not use such an old version of Internet Explorer! That looked like version 5.0.

"The many viruses, worm and malware are targeted at Windows operating systems primarily with some written to effect Apple computers. Thanks again for covering this issue."

This simply is NOT true. There are NO live, active, in-the-wild viruses or malware of any kind that has ever been a danger to any Mac user's data since OS X was released.

"Vulnerabilities" are not the same as actual infections and while both Mac and LInux have vulnerabilities in various distributions of their software over the years, none of these have resulted in actual, live attacks.

If a Mac ever was found to have been infected in the wild and that infection spread, it would be reported like the Second Coming and so far we have yet to see either happen.

JoeL
Atlanta, GA

[k2xl]

As a computer specialist, I think this story is very misleading. Additionally, I don't think it's a coincidence that Norton is SPONSORING the video AND being featured selling their product.

Norton hogs CPU usage and misleads users into thinking their computer is safe. What is needed is EDUCATION (as well as simple anti-spyware software)

I CAN ONLY IMAGINE HOW MANY PARENTS WILL WATCH THIS VIDEO AND FORCE THEIR KIDS TO GET OFF FACEBOOK OR MYSPACE.

And the story does not convey the hacker culture AT ALL.

There have been a number of comments about Macs being as easy to infect as Windows machines, but, "Apple is left alone somewhat because there aren't enough of them, but they can be infected just like other computers if some one wants to."

If this were true, with Apple currently at about 8-10% of computers in use in the USA today, Macs would have about 8-10% of the viruses. But it doesn't. It has ZERO percent of viruses.

Other commenters have said things like, "There are bugs, worms, viruses et al that ARE targeting Mac et al. " Well, yes, there ARE proof-of-concept viruses that have been created at hacker conventions etc to win prizes, but these hacks (that get huge press at the time) never go anywhere. You never hear of an actual machine that someone owns at home or at work that got zapped or controlled or that guy's CC account was compromised because of it.

Sure, a Mac IS a computer and technically can be hacked, but the UNIX architecture at the Mac's core prevents that hack, even if one is successfully installed on your system, from spreading anywhere. Say you installed some pirated software that had some kind of virus in it that targeted your Mac. Let's say you're stupid enough to say "yes" when it asks if its OK to install and the program gets installed then tries to send itself out to the next Mac. The next Mac user gets this worm how? His system will ask HIM before anything gets installed. So can you picture millions of Mac users saying "yes" to the point where the ball really gets rolling? I can't and so far that has never actually happened.

Mac aren't immune, they are just based on a server architecture that has been tested in the public domain and against the best hackers on the planet for 30 years. Microsoft's Windows is based on a closed, proprietary system that only gets patched when the system is hacked and that hack rises to the level where MS knows about it, researches it then fixes the vulnerability.

And yet, week-after-week Windows continues to get hit with viruses that seem able to install themselves then propagate endlessly.

Nothing like this exists on the Mac and numbers have nothing whatsoever to do with it.

JoeL
Atlanta, GA

[ArgentPyro]

@eantoranz

yeah it would. They could get a real lineup of people to speak. I'm sure that there would be a lot of people who would be glad to be interviewed. Linus Torvalds, Richard Stallman, maybe even Hans Reiser somehow. ;)

>That's no longer true, many new distributions of LINUX are ready to go and user friendly right out of the box, the most popular is Ubuntu, but even more friendlier than Ubuntu is Mepis Linux, version 8 is the latest and a free download off the web if a person can at least burn the .iso file to a CD, if not, the Mepis Linux CD is not that expensive to buy. So with so many LINUX versions available, what is the Mepis LINUX claim to fame, the short answer is, no matter what computer setup or hardware you have, Mepis Linux will usually figure it out and just work, old computer or new, it doesn't matter!<

It is true that Linux is MUCH more user-friendly than it used to be and installs are not quite as geeky as they once were, but Linux is STILL not ready for prime-time in my estimation. One of the parents at our school has a Linux install at home and his wife simply does not know how to do much other than email on her Linux box. While her husband is clearly a bit of a geek she still has to refer questions about some video codec or text file to him and sometimes he has an answer and sometimes he doesn't.

Linux IS much closer to being a real alternative to Windows, but seriously folks, until it is, Macs ARE the Linux that Linux users wish Linux was: lots of software, across the board compatibility with other platforms, few, if any driver problems, standards-compliant Intel hardware and a very wealthy and successful company behind the core, open-source core of the Mac OS, BSD Unix. And let's not forget that Apple essentially wrote the book on user-friendly software from the original Mac to the iPod and iPhone and for the last 8 years Apple has fine-tuned its implementation of the Mac OS with the BSD Unix kernel.

If you want a server-grade 'ix distribution, it would be hard to find a more user-friendly system than the Mac OS.

But I am happy that Linux keeps growing and improving. It helps drive the options that Windows users have and more options are good for all.

JoeL
Atlanta, GA