Are the recent Russian cyber-attacks Windows-based?

I have a question about the spate of apparently Russian cyber-attacks that have prompted the Defense Department to have President Bush sit down for a little talk. Here’s what prompted my question; quoting the L.A. Times:

“Military computers are regularly beset by outside hackers, computer viruses and worms. But defense officials said the most recent attack involved an intrusive piece of malicious software, or “malware,” apparently designed specifically to target military networks.

…

“The first indication that the Pentagon was dealing with a computer problem came last week, when officials banned the use of external computer flash drives. At the time, officials did not indicate the extent of the attack or the fact that it may have targeted defense systems or posed national security concerns.

“The invasive software, known as agent.btz, has circulated among nongovernmental U.S. computers for months. But only recently has it affected the Pentagon’s networks. It is not clear whether the version responsible for the cyber-intrusion of classified networks is the same as the one affecting other computer systems.”

Since these worms and/or viruses were ostensibly spread via infected flash drives, that would imply that the computers that got infected were running Microsoft Windows, a notoriously insecure and virus-prone computer operating system. While WIndows is the de facto standard in many parts of the world, its historically insecure nature should make it a prime candidate for removal from national security computers. Yes, it would mean a change in how things are done, but the security implications of foreign parties being able to infect U.S. computers with harmful malware should override the “it’s how it’s always been done” inertia. 

Logical alternatives are Mac OS X and Linux. Neither Mac OS X or the many available versions of Linux have ever had a single computer virus. While that will likely change at some point, both systems’ inherently open nature makes it much easier for an effective solution to be developed and rapidly deployed. Also, their openness makes it more difficult for malware writers to make devastating software. This may seem contradictory — how, if a system is wide open, can it be secure? As Bruce Perens wrote,

“The publication of source code actually improves security because the program or operating system can be peer-reviewed by anyone who cares to read it. Many security bugs that are overlooked in other operating systems have been caught and repaired in Linux, because of its extensive peer-review process.”

The very same way that programmers can use “thousands of momentarily-idle workstations together over the Internet and make them all work on the same problem simultaneously” [Perens] not only make sit possible “to create ‘virtual’ supercomputers, at low or no cost,” the same trick makes it possible for malware to seize insecure computer networks and turn them into massive cyber-attack mechanisms, such as what may have hit the U.S. computers in the first referenced story. With Linux or Mac OS X, such attacks would be much less likely to happen. This is not to say they would be impossible, but, given the peer-reviewed nature of the underlying code in both systems, they are much more difficult to create, and can be much more quickly addressed by “good” developers.

On the topic of openness, Linux (and the BSD UNIXes) actually prevail over Mac OS X. If a dreadful cyber-attack succeeds in crippling computers running Mac OS X, we are dependent upon Apple to issue the fix. Hopefully this would happen quickly, but we have seen in the past that it sometimes has taken Apple a relatively long period of time to issue security updates. Linux, on the other hand, is often updated within a matter of hours, not days, weeks, or months. Both security and performance considerations led Lockheed Martin and the United States Navy to implement Linux in a high-performance cluster. It is my hope that the incoming Obama administration will take the implementation of Linux and other open source software under serious consideration as a way to improve our national security.

The power of farming is alive and well

NPR has a curious story about how a Colorado farmer had an overwhelming response when he said he “would give away free vegetables on his farm, an estimated 40,000 people [emphasis added] showed up. Miller talks about what prompted his offer and the overwhelming response.”

Given that Mr. Miller’s farm is about 30 miles away from Denver, I’m surprised it hasn’t been gobbled up by a property developer for another all-houses-matching subdivision. What will hapen when all the farms are gone? Where will the food come from then? Urban agriculture is important, but large farms are something we must fight to preserve and enhance.

A right call: Bill Richardson wanted Sec. of State post

Some time ago, I had New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson pegged as either running for Vice President or Secretary of State. A later conclusion was the having a part-African man atop the ticket with a Hispanic man in the #2 slot would be too much change for a good number of people, and that Richardson would be happy as Secretary of State. I’d say he’s qualified, given his experience in effective, hands-on negotiations with dictators, e.g. Saddam Hussein. My hunch has been confirmed in recent days, most recently in this story on Politico.com. (And a second story supports my assertion.) Since he got beat for the Secretary of State job, I think he’s now headed for an easy confirmation as Secretary of Commerce, where he’ll do fine.

I can’t take full credit for calling Biden as the VP pick before the candidates were being vetted, which is the first time since 1991 that I’ve not been able to do it. Oh well.  2010 should be an easy-enough call.

Beards we can believe in

Josh Marshall at TPM wants to have New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson regrowing his beard a condition of Richardson joining Barack Obama’s cabinet. I had the pleasure of meeting Gov. Richardson when he was here for a Latinos for Obama rally in early October. He had a beard at the time, and I must say he looked much sharper with it than without it. With all due respect Mr. Governor, please do bring it back.

Amazingly, the fall semester is almost over

As I’ve gotten older, time has seemed to move faster and faster. Case in point, the fall 2008 semester started in late August, I believe. I’ve been working feversihly on two term papers for the past two weeks, and had a lucky reprieve on a third paper’s due date being pushed back by a week. but things wrap up soon. The final exam in my History of Metropolitan Milwaukee class is on December 4, and the other four follow in the week of the 15th. This has been my first full-time semester, and it’s been tough but rewarding. Wihh the presidential campaign long over and the semester drawing to a close, I fear that I’ll be wandering about Milwaukee asking people if they’ve heard of Barack Obama’s plan to extend U.S. foreign by power through creating Volksgemeinschaft in Chechnya!

The good news is that neither myself or our President-Elect will be doing anything like that.

Drinking Liberally meets this Wendesday!

And with any luck I’ll be able to make it.

The great undoing has (almost) begun; Our long national nightmare is (almost) over

Daily Kos links to a Washington Post article about how our fair President-Elect is making plans to undo many of the executive orders made by the outgoing ‘resident, “measures that were imposed for ‘overtly political’ reasons.”

They say “it’s over,” but we will have the same tired old resident of the White House until January 20. Unless we can talk ol’ Bushie into quitting earlier… Either way, this is very good news.

Back to low post volume for a while

I’ve got two good-sized papers due in two weeks, neither of which has seen much work due to the tunnel vision I’ve had for the past several weeks leading up the the election. As such I’m going to be very feverishly working on the papers and not doing much in the way of bl

[er, "blogging," as in not doing much in the way of "blogging" for a while.]  :: grin ::

Victory Custard!

The electricity of the big election night will have passed, but the “victory custard” will be fresh when Eating Liberally gathers at Bella’s Fat Cat tonight, Wednesday 5, 2008. The monthly event brings fans of democracy and good food together for an evening out at a Milwaukee eatery. Regardless of who you hoped would win the election, the taste of Bella’s custard and burgers will be welcome tonight.

Eating Liberally is an informal social-political club that eats at local restaurants and farmers markets. Like its sister group Drinking Liberally, the newer Eating Liberally is designed to bring together the area’s progressive community, albeit over food rather than drink. (Moderates and conservatives are welcome, too.)

Here’s the low down:

Where:
Bella’s Fat Cat
2737 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.
(We’ll be in the party room)

When:
6 PM on Wednesday, November 5th

Upcoming Eating Liberally events:

December 3: Transfer Pizzeria Cafe, 101 W. Mitchell Street

In 2009, Eating Liberally plans to meet at Stone Fly Brewing Company, Maxie’s Southern Comfort?, and Rice Palace Asian Cuisine, making one last stop at Transfer in April ‘09 before going to farmers markets over the summer.

Times are subject to change without notice so we always suggest calling ahead, or you can find the plans for the next event posted on the Eating Liberally blog.

(h/t milwaukeefood.com)

My red-blue predictions

I was overly optimistic in calling a majority in North Dakota as voting for Obama. Indiana, Montana, Missouri, and North Carolina remain to be seen. But it certainly is a landslide!