German government: Windows 8 is a security risk
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NAMEk
You can find almost in every operating system backdoor, especially in Windows. And it doesn't matter what windows version is.
kosh_neranek
Now this is some news! Me likey. Wonder if this came from Snowden or whether the germans were thinking about this before all the havoc on spying. Anyway, I wouldn't mind using Linux for everything myself. The only thing that's keeping me using M$ products are the games. But the question remains the same I guess. Which Linux/Unix distributions can you fully trust these days?The days when you can't trust no one.. (this reminded me of X-files :wanker: )
Alexraptor
A friend of me with a Phd in computer sciences told me about Windos 8 being a seriously insecure OS already last year lol.
Ghosty
More scare mongering. Why would anyone need to spy on you, or take control of your PC? Plus the article sounds like it's talking about pre built PC's and not custom built ones.
"The only people left who really believe that Windows has a backdoor to the NSA are the same kinds of people who believe Facebook, Google, Apple, Yahoo, and the rest of the named seven major companies, gave "direct access" to their systems to the NSA — which they didn't, as they continue to fight in the courts to reveal documents that they know exonerates them from any allegations made by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden".
Veeshush
Hilbert, I love ya man, but please try to remember to ALWAYS include sources.
http://investmentwatchblog.com/leaked-german-government-warns-key-entities-not-to-use-windows-8-links-the-nsa/
(the comment section is a good read also)
and
http://www.zeit.de/digital/datenschutz/2013-08/trusted-computing-microsoft-windows-8-nsa/seite-1
And which when auto translated:
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.zeit.de/digital/datenschutz/2013-08/trusted-computing-microsoft-windows-8-nsa&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%255Chttp://www.zeit.de/digital/datenschutz/2013-08/trusted-computing-microsoft-windows-8-nsa/seite-1%26biw%3D1920%26bih%3D887
I lost it at:
edit
The correct quote is:
"Another option would be to switch to Linux machines, something that the city government of Munich has started 10 years ago"
A lot of governments are interested in Linux. Why? For the same reason businesses are.
The NSA was even a big backer of SELinux
http://www.nsa.gov/research/selinux/
The US Navy was a huge backer of Tor:
https://www.torproject.org/about/overview.html.en
So why would
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trusted_Computing
warrant any paranoia?
THE LIZARD MEN ARE PUTTING CHIPS IN YOUR CHIPS TO LOG YOUR CHIPS
The_Fool
The same reasons people create computer viruses, malware, keyloggers, and spyware.
Veeshush
Which ironically, and I can't force this enough, is so much more of a real threat than if any government (of any nation) spying could honestly give two ****s of the general population and their computers.
With a world population of 7 Billion, you'd really have to stand out.
Ghosty
I agree with you 100% on that. People seem far to worried about what a government can or can't do. Forgetting the real threats.
Redemption80
This is the price we pay for convenience as technology advances.
Everything in life is a risk, it would dull and quite depressing to spend your days overly worrying about things that might or might not go happen.
S_IV
Now it's almost done I guess in terms of bad reputation. In fact Windows 8 is no different than win7. Same perf., stability or security, or even better according to Microsoft. Many people aren't pro about software. Many of them haven't tried win8 yet. They just read "Win8 sucks!" or sth. like that on the net. Just the headlines I mean. When they see a sentence "Win8 is a risk" said by a government then it's done for them. Just like intel said " we won't upgrage to Vista, we'll continue with XP". Microsoft tried hard after that with service packs and Mojave experiment but it was too late, only Win 7 saved them.
EJocys
Remember, half of the population have IQ below the average 🙂. People do crazy, irrational and immoral things all the time on the massive scale and a lot of them work for the government. There is a reason why countries with strong military power are killing innocent people in other countries for ages now. Some people would do anything to get advantage over others. You can also ask why would anyone believe in a imaginary friend in the sky? Question, which better represents reality, must start with "Why so many...?"
Zen
.... a look from the moments pass
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIRZebE8O84
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY4vsHWe25c
systems of interconnection do what they are made for ....
accept no less
k1net1cs
I understand that moving on from Microsoft platform because of the backdoor/NSA thing is logical from government secrecy/security standpoint, but their government workers have to be able to escape the traps of social engineering.
I mean, something like this is already in the wild for the GNU/Linux platform.
https://blogs.rsa.com/thieves-reaching-for-linux-hand-of-thief-trojan-targets-linux-inth3wild/
Or maybe German government 'IT experts' couldn't really afford the time to make a filter in the firewall for their own (government) network when all they need to do is making a whitelist.
I'll be laughing if one of their departments use any of Google services (like GMail or Docs) for their work.
dark_surge
Would the US government use Win 8 to spy on foreign diplomats? Almost absolutely. The government has been spying on our allies and enemies alike for over 75 years. It's so much easier than sending a guy to spy on them from across the street in a hotel. Plus, I would imagine this would be more to gather e-mails and documents. If they wanted to record a meeting they'd probably still use the ol laser-on-the-window method.
Do they care about me or anybody on this forum? They're pretty paranoid and efficient wasters of their own time if they do. Unless anybody here is on the FBI's most wanted list I don't think they have anything to worry about. And if you are, you have bigger things to worry about than if Win 8 is watching you. 🙂
schmidtbag
The major difference with Linux is it's open source, so you're allowed to change it to be at the security level you prefer. Also, get a barebone distro like debian or Arch and you get to pick what goes in and what doesn't, so the OS overall is only as secure as you make it to be. Ubuntu is technically insecure due to it's amazon and cloud service stuff.
makaveli316
Nobody will take control of your pc or spy on you.
Maybe if you are a multimillionaire or have secret files and you work for the government.
What's the last time you heard of someone complaining about being spied?
Nobody cares about your music and porn.
Keitosha
Perhaps the RIAA/MPAA? They would love to know. 😛c1:
EJocys
Yes, we can safely disable all firewalls and anti-virus now 🙂.
makaveli316
No, but let's cut the conspiracy crap that people see everywhere and in everything.
StewieTech
If someone really wants to take control of your pc and know how things work, firewalls and anti-virus don´t really matter. Those programs are good to the little malicious codes that come from porn sites and emails though.
