I can't chase it out of my mind...

[minthaka]

I'm very often thinking of the viruses and spywares in Windows, and I have one think, one question on my mind: is this vulnerability by accident, or it is well planned? For me it is obvious that they could fix the data-leakage sources, and gates of virus attacks, but they do not! Why? My guess is that they use Windows for stealing data from companies and individuals. I don't know how large income they had in last decade of this legal piracy. Maybe this is all maintained by intelligence services (FBI,CIA, Mossad)? Or is it just another theory of conspiracy?

[b2bwild]

lol, you are thinking too much.
I will tell your the true thing.

Its not the FBI or CIA....

Its MIB... X_X
believe or not. Linux is a alien technology.

[pookiebear]

I would more think that mcafee or symantec are putting out the viruses creating the need for their security programs. But I love a good conspiracy.

[b2bwild]

Well, according to me...

Linux morphs and evolves itself too fast.
As being OpenSource bug fixes and critical security updates are alot faster.
It is available in huge number of variants featuring different structures.
Most of the Linux users are aware of Internet security and risks.

This is definitely not a good platform for Viruses/Mal-Ware and Spy-Wares.

[techieMoe]

I'm very often thinking of the viruses and spywares in Windows, and I have one think, one question on my mind: is this vulnerability by accident, or it is well planned? For me it is obvious that they could fix the data-leakage sources, and gates of virus attacks, but they do not! Why?

Speaking as a programmer, I have to say in a system as complex as Windows it's quite easy to have millions of potential code problems and never realize it. One of the problems programmers at Microsoft have dealt with over the years is the increasing volume of legacy code that has been carried over from one version to the next of the OS. There are still hooks in the registry of Windows XP that refer to Windows 3.11.

To some extent this has been addressed in Vista/7 by a cleaner re-write of the kernel and underlying systems. The downside as they've discovered is that rewriting the system internals causes drivers and devices to function in unpredictable ways. Thus Vista is "buggy" and "unstable."

Take into account also the idea that Windows was initially designed with a single user in mind and no network capability at all. Unlike the UNIX-based operating systems (Linux, UNIX, BSD, OS X) which were designed from the beginning to handle multiple users and all the security challenges this causes, Windows has over the years essentially bolted on network and security frameworks from other sources (including BSD).

I'm not a Microsoft apologist; I'm just not convinced that even the best programmers in the world (some of whom believe it or not actually work for Microsoft) could repair all the holes in Windows without a complete rewrite from the ground up.

[mrman]

People have been writing viruses for years, but now with the open internet it should be easier to track people. Where are the virus makers mainly from?

[techieMoe]

People have been writing viruses for years, but now with the open internet it should be easier to track people. Where are the virus makers mainly from?

If I had to wager a guess, I'd say former Soviet countries. Georgia, all the "-stans." But that's just a guess. Not to say all the hackers over there are malicious ones.

[Bemk]

I believe that it is nearly impossible to write a bug free application. All you can do is design you system to be as safe as possible and hope people will report the bugs to you, so you can redesign/rewrite the buggy code.

The reason why Open Source systems are often really safe is because there are so many people who collaborate in enhancing the systems performance and safety. There is not a single company with as many developers as GNU/Linux has gained over the years.

[bigvoo]

My quote has always been " conspiracies work, because people don't believe they exist" but to elaborate on what pookie said... 2 years ago, I had spent so much money on " windows fix progams" that i just decided to let that computer die slowly, and sure enough, within 2 hours of letting my " anti-virus" expire, the computer started taking 5 minutes to boot up, I un-installed programs one at a time until there was only 3 left on the comp....( i had left the expired antvirus on there only because it was a combo av/firewall and the firewall was still active) well when i u installed that.....it booted normal again. mY response to run out to Frys and buy a new av/firewall program ? NO! I installed ubuntu and been linuxs user since then, I'm no techy by far, but at least in linux i can read and understand how to fix anything that goes wrong, so far, linux has been flawless.

[Hal343]

These people have spent years auditing code to build a secure OS .http://www.openbsd.org/ and still every few years find a vulnerability. Secure code is the hardest thing in the world to write.