Longhorn locked against theft by iPod

[5300cs]

The article:

MICROSOFT is working on technology that will give companies more control over whether to prohibit devices that can easily be used to transfer data to and from personal computers.

The technology is due to appear in next version of Windows, dubbed Longhorn, due out in 2006. As devices including Apple's popular iPods become capable of holding more data, some worry that people could use them to steal data or unleash virus attacks on business networks.

Microsoft's goal is to have a system where people can use devices that help them in their work - such as a smart phone full of professional contacts - but not storage devices that could be used to quickly steal data, said Greg Sullivan, a lead product manager.

Mr Sullivan said the company introduced an early version of this technology with Service Pack 2, the security upgrade for the Windows XP operating system completed in early August. But that system works more by "brute force," Mr Sullivan said, and the eventual goal is to make it easier and more refined.

He said the technology was in the planning stages and offered few details.
The technology is part of Microsoft's broader efforts to improve security. The company has tried hard over the last several years to make devices interact easily with Windows, Mr Sullivan said, "and now it's incumbent on us also to make sure we're responding to user needs with regard to security."

The Associated Press

Funny how they only decided to mention the iPod as a means of stealing data, as opposed to oh, I don't know, the dozen or so other methods of file storage and transfer. And why not use a smart phone while you're at it, instead of that nasty iPod (the fact that m$ makes smart-phones is unrelated, I'm sure.)

Also, m$ should have taken security seriously a LONG TIME AGO, not now all of a sudden... and they're STILL only half-serious about it anyway.

I see this as veiled FUD to try and topple the iPod as the number one portable music player on the market. How remarkable that this story comes out on the heels of m$s music store.

Microsoft: How low will we go next?

 

[raynegus]

microsoft = microshit

 

[Timelessblur]

The article:



Funny how they only decided to mention the iPod as a means of stealing data, as opposed to oh, I don't know, the dozen or so other methods of file storage and transfer. And why not use a smart phone while you're at it, instead of that nasty iPod (the fact that m$ makes smart-phones is unrelated, I'm sure.)

Also, m$ should have taken security seriously a LONG TIME AGO, not now all of a sudden... and they're STILL only half-serious about it anyway.

I see this as veiled FUD to try and topple the iPod as the number one portable music player on the market. How remarkable that this story comes out on the heels of m$s music store.

Microsoft: How low will we go next?

I dont see apple doing it or you cannt nto do it on an apple. You can alread do it in windows but it is a huge work around to do it and trouble some. IT guys know how to do it and is trouble some.

MS did not right the artical some else did. They are the ones who used the ipod. The reason they choose to use the iPod is everyone knows what they are and knows that the can transfer data from computers. Most people dont know what a flash stick is and will ask what it is (been ask several times that question by random people when they see my flash stick). Even fewer know what the smart phone is.

Really it gets pretty sad how everyone love to flame MS for every thing.

 

[echeck]

The reason they choose to use the iPod is everyone knows what they are and knows that the can transfer data from computers. Most people dont know what a flash stick is...

I agree, pretty much everyone knows what an iPod is now. There could well be a hidden agenda in mentioning the iPod (MS didn't write it, but they could have mentioned it) but there's no point in getting into that.

Really it gets pretty sad how everyone love to flame MS for every thing.

I, for one, am more than happy to flame Microshaft for everything they do. I hate windows. I hate it, hate it, hate it. I hate all the virus', I hate the instability and I hate how they seem to put the user last. Apple puts the user first, unlike MS, OS X works for YOU the user, windows makes the user work for the OS.

so....flame on!

 

[iMeowbot]

Also, m$ should have taken security seriously a LONG TIME AGO, not now all of a sudden... and they're STILL only half-serious about it anyway.

This same vulnerability is present in OS X. When are Apple going to address it?

 

[bousozoku]

This same vulnerability is present in OS X. When are Apple going to address it?

Is it a vulnerability or is it a feature?

Individual machines should be able to be locked for external devices, as needed, though. As I've found Windows XP difficult to use with external devices you disconnect from time to time, I'm surprised that anyone can copy anything to them without an administrator password.

However, if you don't want people copying data, you secure the data. It's already possible to keep people from reading the data. Is security not a corporate responsibility anymore?

 

[iMeowbot]

Is it a vulnerability or is it a feature?

Access that isn't controlled is a vulnerability pretty much by definition.

Individual machines should be able to be locked for external devices, as needed, though.

That's the problem. You have to fush around in the system by hand and find what devices and programs are being used to make things mount automagically, then apply changes by hand, and reapply them when system upgrades make changes or put things back to the insecure way.

Businesses, libraries and labs aren't always (more realistically, usually aren't) staffed with people who have wasted years learning how to do obscure things like that. Apple really, really need to reduce this to a few checkboxes in the user preferences so that normal customers can reasonably protect themselves.

As I've found Windows XP difficult to use with external devices you disconnect from time to time, I'm surprised that anyone can copy anything to them without an administrator password.

That's Windows for you It works flawlessly on some machines, it's nonstop pain on others.

However, if you don't want people copying data, you secure the data. It's already possible to keep people from reading the data. Is security not a corporate responsibility anymore?

Data still needs to be made available to workers so that they can do their jobs. There is a world of difference between allowing a worker to open and use documents on site and allowing those same files to be copied and taken off thge premises. That's part of the security a company needs to worry about, and at present it is very difficult to achieve it if OS X workstations are in use.

 

[James L]

Wow, what a paranoid topic! A 3rd party writes an article mentioning M$ and the iPod, and somehow it becomes a deep, intricate, subterfuge attempt to topple the iPod?

Somehow I think it is a little less sinister than that.

 

[BornAgainMac]

Microsoft should have the entire system reboot when someone tries to plug in a USB keychain, iPod or any storage device. That will teach people not to use storage devices with their computer.

I understand the reason but I hope Microsoft reboots instead of just displaying a friendly message. That would be too funny.

 

[5300cs]

Microsoft should have the entire system reboot when someone tries to plug in a USB keychain, iPod or any storage device. That will teach people not to use storage devices with their computer...

That was a prominent "feature" in windows 98 ....

 

[Abstract]

I dont see apple doing it or you cannt nto do it on an apple. You can alread do it in windows but it is a huge work around to do it and trouble some. IT guys know how to do it and is trouble some.

MS did not right the artical some else did. They are the ones who used the ipod. The reason they choose to use the iPod is everyone knows what they are and knows that the can transfer data from computers. Most people dont know what a flash stick is and will ask what it is (been ask several times that question by random people when they see my flash stick). Even fewer know what the smart phone is.

Really it gets pretty sad how everyone love to flame MS for every thing.

I agree.

Actually, I think this is a great feature to include, and don't see the problem.

 

[mkaake]

That was a prominent "feature" in windows 98 ....

yeah, but didn't that give you a nice little screen warning you? if i recall, it was blue...

 

[thatwendigo]

MS did not right the artical some else did. They are the ones who used the ipod. The reason they choose to use the iPod is everyone knows what they are and knows that the can transfer data from computers.

Of course, this couldn't have anything to do with the way Microsoft likes to salt the media, academia, and anywhere else they can with a couple of free product licenses in order to curry favor. They don't do things like tha... Oh wait. They do, don't they?



Even if it weren't something that they had a direct hand in, they've certainly been doing their best to encourage the tech culture that looks at Apple products as toys, incompatibilities, and otherwise 'risky' when compared to the Wintel/x86 platform. There's an embedded culture in the media, if you haven't noticed, that seems to believe Apple will go out of business any time someone at the company gets a papercut. For whatever reason, Apple is rarely covered in a fair or knowledgable manner by anyone that isn't working for a mac publication.

Most people dont know what a flash stick is and will ask what it is (been ask several times that question by random people when they see my flash stick). Even fewer know what the smart phone is.

You must live near some dumb people, since one of the bigger sellers where I work has been USB flashdrives. Everyone in my family has one now, including the kids, and we're not exactly early adopters one medium. Best Buy sells even more than we do, because I've seen how empty their flash drive shelves and racks get sometimes.

The iPod is just trendy to mention, if not outright attacked.

Really it gets pretty sad how everyone love to flame MS for every thing.

It gets even more pathetic to watch people defend them.

 

[Timelessblur]

well the feature it self is useless to the indival user but it extermly helpful to corpation and is much needed. Remeber windows primary target is not the consumer market but the coorparted market.

Apple needs the feature but I dont see it being add for a while. Apple computers are not as corp friendly as windowss are. (corp friends in the way that it is easier to limit access on the windows computer than in OSX)

 

[Fukui]

unny how they only decided to mention the iPod as a means of stealing data, as opposed to oh, I don't know, the dozen or so other methods of file storage and transfer. And why not use a smart phone while you're at it, instead of that nasty iPod (the fact that m$ makes smart-phones is unrelated, I'm sure.)

Hey, free advertising!!

 

[Timelessblur]

Of course, this couldn't have anything to do with the way Microsoft likes to salt the media, academia, and anywhere else they can with a couple of free product licenses in order to curry favor. They don't do things like tha... Oh wait. They do, don't they?



Even if it weren't something that they had a direct hand in, they've certainly been doing their best to encourage the tech culture that looks at Apple products as toys, incompatibilities, and otherwise 'risky' when compared to the Wintel/x86 platform. There's an embedded culture in the media, if you haven't noticed, that seems to believe Apple will go out of business any time someone at the company gets a papercut. For whatever reason, Apple is rarely covered in a fair or knowledgable manner by anyone that isn't working for a mac publication.



You must live near some dumb people, since one of the bigger sellers where I work has been USB flashdrives. Everyone in my family has one now, including the kids, and we're not exactly early adopters one medium. Best Buy sells even more than we do, because I've seen how empty their flash drive shelves and racks get sometimes.

The iPod is just trendy to mention, if not outright attacked.



It gets even more pathetic to watch people defend them.

Remeber look at the people who buy them. They are more of the more techical crowd. I been ask my people what is a good way to move data. The average person does not go to computer store.
I love it how the mac comunity refuses to see apple screws up. They used the iPod as example because more people know what an iPod is then a USB flash stick. Plus look at how much smaller it is to say. The flash sticks have multiple meanings from camras to the USB pen drives. A lot of people dont know what a pen drive is. Yeah a lot of people know what it is but it going to take them a second longer to figure it out. iPod is instantly known.

Typic macci view is Microsoft is bad. I know people who refused to get a mac not because they think windows is better but because they hate the nut cases who are blind idiots who refuse to see both sides.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

well the feature it self is useless to the indival user but it extermly helpful to corpation and is much needed. Remeber windows primary target is not the consumer market but the coorparted market.

Apple needs the feature but I dont see it being add for a while. Apple computers are not as corp friendly as windowss are. (corp friends in the way that it is easier to limit access on the windows computer than in OSX)

I'm inclined to disagree with both points.

First of all, judging by "market share" (which is never accurate) alone, Windows is used just as much, if not more, by individuals as corporations. Therefore, I think Windows is targeted just as much to individuals as it is to corporations.

Secondly, access on Mac OS X can be quite tightly controlled through the use of Mac OS X Server, similar to the Windows equivalent of using Windows 2000 Server or Windows Server 2003 to control access on clients that connect to it. Just look here, here, and here for documentation.

 

[Counterfit]

Yeah, that'll work great. Instead of putting this 500MB file on my iPod, I'll just put it on my SonyEricsson P900 or S700 with a 1GB MemoryStick in it

 

[SiliconAddict]

microsoft = microshit

The problem is that they aren't a small pile of ****. Megashit maybe.

 

[SiliconAddict]

The article:

Funny how they only decided to mention the iPod as a means of stealing data, as opposed to oh, I don't know, the dozen or so other methods of file storage and transfer. And why not use a smart phone while you're at it, instead of that nasty iPod (the fact that m$ makes smart-phones is unrelated, I'm sure.)

This is typical news.com tactics. they use headlines to drum up clicks. If you spend any length of time on their site you will see this theme occur often. Ignore it and move on.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

The article:



Funny how they only decided to mention the iPod as a means of stealing data, as opposed to oh, I don't know, the dozen or so other methods of file storage and transfer. And why not use a smart phone while you're at it, instead of that nasty iPod (the fact that m$ makes smart-phones is unrelated, I'm sure.)

Also, m$ should have taken security seriously a LONG TIME AGO, not now all of a sudden... and they're STILL only half-serious about it anyway.

I see this as veiled FUD to try and topple the iPod as the number one portable music player on the market. How remarkable that this story comes out on the heels of m$s music store.

Microsoft: How low will we go next?

Having sold computers with the M$ NT software to the government in a past life, this does make sense. iPod had neared the mark of being just like Kleenix. It would have been better to say some like "iPods and othe MP3 type devices.

It has been rumored here that some pirated software for the Mac on P2P nets was gotten by using the iPod.

 

[5300cs]

Remeber look at the people who buy them. They are more of the more techical crowd. I been ask my people what is a good way to move data. The average person does not go to computer store.
I love it how the mac comunity refuses to see apple screws up. They used the iPod as example because more people know what an iPod is then a USB flash stick. Plus look at how much smaller it is to say. The flash sticks have multiple meanings from camras to the USB pen drives. A lot of people dont know what a pen drive is. Yeah a lot of people know what it is but it going to take them a second longer to figure it out. iPod is instantly known.

Typic macci view is Microsoft is bad. I know people who refused to get a mac not because they think windows is better but because they hate the nut cases who are blind idiots who refuse to see both sides.

I refuse to get a pc because the windows crowd it too biased

And there are PLENTY of technical people buying Macs, REAL technical people who use REAL OSes like .. oh.. Linux or UNIX for example, not windows. Is that what you meant? If not, nevermind.

I did hear about kids about 2 years ago who brought 20gig iPods in to Apple stores and used them to syphon off apps from the demo machines pretty funny.. uh, I mean shame on them!

I am fully aware of Apples screw-ups. I have an iPod with an almost-dead-non-replaceable battery, I have a G3 800 iBook with 1 logic board replacement so far, I have a TiBook with peeling paint (looks real ghetto now.) I am not apologizing for them at all, but I think the article was poorly worded, and including only the name "iPod" could be slightly damaging. This is just what m$ wants: to infect the "minds" of its customer base about that terrible iPod...

What' MOST pathetic is people who agree that "m$ sucks" but still go out and buy a pc

 

[Timelessblur]

I must be among the few who says that microsoft does not suck. I love how Mac users for example say MS sucks and yet there computer is has quiet a few MS products on it.

For my system I choose which one is better for what I need it for plan and simple. A Apple computer will not cut it for my main computer because it heavily lacks in the software I need. So does linux. I not talking about games I am talking about pro level apps that are only on the PC. On a Mac their are so so programs but they lag several years behind the Windows verson. I am going to get a mac for a laptop in the future so it is a 2nddary computer to me not my primary.

I find people who say M$ sucks just a blind as the people who are biase agaist Apple computer.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

I must be among the few who says that microsoft does not suck. I love how Mac users for example say MS sucks and yet there computer is has quiet a few MS products on it.

For my system I choose which one is better for what I need it for plan and simple. A Apple computer will not cut it for my main computer because it heavily lacks in the software I need. So does linux. I not talking about games I am talking about pro level apps that are only on the PC. On a Mac their are so so programs but they lag several years behind the Windows verson. I am going to get a mac for a laptop in the future so it is a 2nddary computer to me not my primary.

I find people who say M$ sucks just a blind as the people who are biase agaist Apple computer.

I agree as a photographer. Tools for the job is my mantra.

But we are talking about M$ locking out capabilities, and the mention of Apple in that vein. As I pointed out in the government sector, there is a need for that. It has been awhile, but I do remember that NT did not support at one time "swappable" devices.

 

[Timelessblur]

well if one thing can be shown by this is it pretty clear that apple needs to add this secuirty feature to there OS as well. Those kids stealing the apps from the apple store it a good example. Apple computer make it a lot easier to pirated stuff off of them than window computers (easier does not mean more just easier)

I think I need to go down to the school libary some time to see if I have access to the apps folder to move copy stuff out of them. I think I be testing it out next week.