WSJ to e-Terrorists and Hackers: US Utilities Vulnerable!

[turetzsr]

...Windows XP in Utilities Could Mean Big Security Problems: "Windows XP is widely used on workstations in nearly all of the electric and gas utilities in the U.S., Michael Assante former vice president and chief security officer for the North American Electric Reliability Corp. and former chief security officer for American Electric Power Co. Inc., told CIO Journal.

After April 8, when Microsoft stops providing security updates or technical support for Windows XP, it will be easier for cyberattackers to create malicious software that could take advantage of the unpatched OS to create regional blackouts or industrial accidents, he said."

...Of course, there's always the possibility than any e-terrorists, hackers, etc who know how to take advantage of it also already know about this, so WSJ blogger didn't do any damage. But why take that risk? :angry:

[Farelf]

Seems like we need another multi-billion dollar assurance and upgrade exercise not unlike the Y2K debacle. One way to keep the economy ticking over, I guess. No wonder the WSJ is spreading FUD, encouraging the ultimate separation of consumers from their savings and chanelling the monies towards those corporations best suited to soak them up sounds almost like a job description.

But there is life after the end of security patches, I'm sure (though not helped by M$ also discontinuing MSE support to XP machines at some further date) - firewalls, VPNs, edge security, browser and access, restrictions etc. Nothing is ever safe. Heh, just competed my second upgrade to iPad OS in two weeks. The thing's almost acting like a real computer.

[Farelf]

The current metrics for Desktop Operating System Market Share (as represented at:

http://marketshare.hitslink.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=10&qpcustomd=0

- as at February, 2014) are "interesting":

Operating System	Total Market Share
Windows 7	47.31%
Windows XP	29.53%
Windows 8	6.38%
Windows 8.1	4.30%
Mac OS X 10.9	3.48%
Windows Vista	3.10%
Linux	1.48%
Mac OS X 10.6	1.40%
Mac OS X 10.8	1.32%
Mac OS X 10.7	1.13%
Mac OS X 10.5	0.28%
Windows NT	0.18%
Mac OS X 10.4	0.07%
Windows 2000	0.03%
Mac OS X (no version reported)	0.01%
Windows 98	0.00%

What we have here is a failure of planned obsolescence - no doubt those responsible have been severely chastised

[rconner]

The current metrics for Desktop Operating System Market Share (as represented at:

http://marketshare.hitslink.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=10&qpcustomd=0

- as at February, 2014) are "interesting":

Unfortunate that BSD doesn't show up there -- it has a reputation of being very solid.

-- rick

[turetzsr]

...Maybe the fact that it doesn't show is a reason it's solid (by which I assume you mean with respect to successful attacks) -- why put effort into breaching the security of an OS with less penetration than the 0.00% that Windows 98 still "enjoys" (assuming that's why BSD isn't on the list)? <g>

[Farelf]

I tried following http://bsd.slashdot.org/story/13/02/15/185257/the-state-of-bsd-at-the-start-of-2013 but it made my brain hurt. I then found http://timreview.ca/article/262 which is seriously up-beat but very old now. Sadly the wryness of "Nice guys finish last," is very old but seems still to hold true. One remembers CP/M ...