Focus On: Vulnerabilities

Think you're protected by credit bureau fraud alerts? Think again. A recent study found that credit reporting agencies fumble the ball 40% of the time... and that's at the simplest level, where agencies turn on the fraud alert. Credit bureaus are screaming bloody murder, but the story sure rings true among those who have dealings with their ilk.

A group in Amsterdam figures that the same characteristics that make RFID tags perfect for WalMart, make them perfect triggers for bombs. If they have anything to say about it, you'll soon be able to exchange your tinfoil hat for a walkabout RFID jammer. Is that an improvement?

The new breed of rootkits is operating system-agnostic. 64-bit implementations of BSD, Linux, MacOS X, Windows Vista are all considered vulnerable, as long as they're riding atop the wrong chips from AMD and Intel. VM rootkits quietly sieze control of the chips' virtualization technology to control or pervert any and every process the attacker chooses. Current defense possibilities are depressingly mechanical.

Microsoft security guru Jeff Jones is extending the meme that Windows is more secure than Linux. Ever curious, I decided to check out his assumptions and methodologies. Setting aside easy red herrings like the timing of fixes, I still came across judgment calls that less MS-centric researchers might have made differently.

After a year of testing, French virus experts have concluded that Microsoft Office is less dangerous than its competitor, OpenOffice. In the short term, this is great news for Microsoft... outside of Europe. More anti-open source FUD will delay some planned migrations. Longer term, OpenOffice will benefit, as France and Germany pour resources into securing the product they now rely upon. The race is, as they say, afoot.