The world鈥檚 reliance on Microsoft operating systems is leaving critical computer networks unnecessarily vulnerable to attack, claim security experts.
A report published on Wednesday by the Computer and Communications Industry Association says that Microsoft鈥檚 dominance in PC operating systems has created a 鈥榤onoculture鈥� that allows viruses to spread like wildfire over the Internet. This lack of diversity allows even simple viruses, created in minutes by so called 鈥榮cript kiddies鈥� to wreak havoc within hours of creation.
鈥淣ature does not put up with monocultures because they are too easy to attack,鈥� says Daniel Geer, one of the paper鈥檚 authors and chief technology officer for the security company AtStake. 鈥淚f everything looks just alike . . . it will promptly be punished.鈥�
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The security problems created by Microsoft are a direct result of the company鈥檚 business practices, claims the report. The company鈥檚 systems are designed to keep out competitors rather than intruders, say the authors.
鈥淭heir goal is to facilitate lock-in of Microsoft products,鈥� says Bruce Schneier, chief technology officer of Counterpane Internet Security, one of the report鈥檚 authors.
Microsoft vehemently denies the charges.
Malicious code
Sean Sundwall, spokesman for the company, says: 鈥淣o other company in the world is more committed to providing its customers with more secure software than is Microsoft.鈥�
Following the recent spread of the Sobig, Blaster and Slammer worms, governments and industry around the world have begun looking more critically at security. Many technology officers for governments and companies are now considering whether they should diversify the types of operating systems and applications on their networks.
The report鈥檚 authors argue that governments should use their buying power to force Microsoft to open up the source code of its operating systems. This, it is claimed, would allow security vulnerabilities to be spotted and closed far quicker than at present.
It would also allow security software to interact more effectively with the operating system and reduce the opportunities for virus writers to produce malicious code, the authors say.
No competition
Flaws in a product would normally mean it would lose its dominance but, the author鈥檚 claim, this cannot happen in computer operating systems because Microsoft controls at least 90 per cent of the desktop operating system market. There is simply no competition capable of routing Microsoft.
But not all computer security experts are so critical of Microsoft. Graham Cluley, of the antivirus software company Sophos, says that virus writers exploit human vulnerabilities as much as security flaws.
Cluley told 快猫短视频: 鈥淭he vast majority of viruses are executable files sent by email. People feel compelled to double-click on these like Pavlov鈥檚 dogs faced with a ringing bell. These viruses exploit people鈥檚 stupidity as much as poor security. Sadly there are no patches available for people鈥檚 brains.鈥�