Linux news

2007 07 03

Security Used as an Excuse to Sell Something

Novell's comparison of AppArmor and SELinux

After all I read about AppArmor and SELinux even Novell's comparison of the two systems doesn't help giving me a better opinion about AppArmor. The information shown there isn't what I had expected, they're repeating themselves to fill the page and the point about SELinux' low adoption rate is a joke.

http://s5h.net/u?zbb1c
"Don't get Swiftfox!"

Why does he not allow redistribution of the binaries? Because he claims that Swiftfox is more secure this way. Swiftfox would be more secure if, and only if, the developer would fully comply with the MPL, GPL, or LGPL.

http://s5h.net/u?z884f2
Related: Microsoft insults our intelligence on Virtualization security

Microsoft has once again pulled out the security argument for its decision again and I must say that I find it rather insulting. It's not that I think Microsoft doesn't have a right as a private business to set the terms of the EULA as they see fit, but don't take us for f ools. If they want to restrict Virtualization, just come out and say it and don't make up ridiculous excuses for it. [...] Trying to stop a Hypervisor Rootkit with a EULA is like trying to stop Malware with a EULA.

http://s5h.net/u?zf86c1
The Fear biz is the computer security biz

A few days later, I saw what Bill Gates had to say in a recent Newsweek interview about the Mac as compared to Vista. "I mean, it's fascinating, maybe we shouldn't have showed so publicly the stuff we were doing, because we knew how long the new security base was going to take us to get done. Nowadays, security guys break the Mac every single day. Every single day, they come out with a total exploit, your machine can be taken over totally. I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine." My reaction, like most knowledgeable people who read this, was open-mouthed astonishment. Now, either Bill is heavily drugged and delusional, which I don't believe, or he's just completely ignorant, which I also discount, or he knows exactly what he's saying and has an ulterior motive. That's my best guess. Bill Gates knows that he's at best exaggerating and at worst completely lying through his teeth. So why's he doing it? Because he also knows that Apple's new ads are helping Macs to sell like hot cakes, and that security is a big reason why a lot of people are throwing up their hands in disgust at Windows and switching to Apple's computers. Who reads Newsweek? Not computer pros, but Joe and Jane Computer-user, and Joe and Jane tend to believe what they read in the mainstream media when it comes to computers, especially when that nice, smart philanthropist Bill Gates is the one saying it. He's Mr Computer, after all, so he must be right!

http://s5h.net/u?z5cb8