Comment Articles

Microsoft's giving away secrets

Guy Kewney AnchorDesk

Published: 27 Oct 2000 17:53 BST

It simply isn't the case, of course, that Microsoft's future is in serious doubt because someone has access to source code. Of course, the hacker who raided their database has information which will be useful in writing new cracker code; of course, it is possible that this code-cracker will now be able to write more sophisitcated subversion tools. But let's have a sanity check here! -- the difference between "before" and "after" pictures is the difference between a system with almost no security whatever, and a security with slightly less security in one or two areas, perhaps.

For most users of Windows, the chance that they might get their own PC hacked is pretty low -- but that's because there's nothing worth hacking on their PC.

If this situation ever changes, the whole structure of Windows and Windows networking will have to be changed to match it. Ordinary users will have to stop writing their passwords on little yellow post-it notes stuck to their displays. Heck, ordinary users will have to actually start using passwords; most don't. And why would they? Just how valuable is the data on the typical hard disk to a prying spy?

So the idea that Microsoft operating systems have been "compromised" by this intrusion is nonsense. Any system with Direct-X on it is compromised; any system with Visual Basic Scripting loaded is compromised; any system which sends unencrypted messages over the Internet is compromised.

But does that mean no harm was done? Hardly!