Root cause of blue screen of death was a logic error (per software vendor) When an application program or utility is able to produce an error that causes the OS to abnormally end, that means that the OS is not properly protected from that error. The OS *should* respond with an error code and refuse to execute the instruction. I worked with both minicomputer and BSD Unix systems (and others) that did not crash the OS in many years. The last time I remember one of these crashing was around 1986. The requesting program should be returned an error code and/or be cancelled by the OS. Microsoft should patch the OS to create a more resilient product. Thank God most aircraft, spacecraft and weapons don't run Windows. The B-1 Bomber and Space Shuttle were designed with System/4s, others mainly use defense specific designs.
Terms of use for many OSs indicate they are not to be used for life-critical functions. Many applications and operating systems limit their liability to whatever you paid for the application or OS. You accept those terms by using the product.
As this mess rolled out, we were reassured that this wasn’t an attack, but rather was just an error in a Crowdstrike patch update.
That’s really great and all, but this was fundamentally a test case showing that you can use a third-party security update as a vehicle for a Windows root-level exploit to cause instant global chaos. That can be a goal in itself or a destabilizing distraction before initiating some other horrible thing we’d rather not think about.
These software security companies regularly grouse that they’re forbidden the access necessary to provide true antivirus software on iOS devices. They say this unironically, without acknowledging that allowing that level of access is itself the source of the vulnerabilities against which those companies purport to protect.
Meanwhile, the EU and others are pressing to make iOS more like Windows or Android in a misguided argument about “freedom.”
iOS was designed from the ground up as a fresh start for personal computing in an always-connected internet age. Windows (and MacOS) were designed for isolated, stand-alone machines. The legacy roots of those systems leave huge vulnerabilities like this in place. MacOS has always been more buttoned up than windows and has been gradually working its way towards the iOS model. All of these operating systems should be headed in that direction, rather than going the other way.
Whilst I’m enjoying your combative attitude, does a supplier doing it that (Windows) way, really prove your point?
Interesting that you perceive me telling you that you’re incorrect as “combative”. And yes it proves my point. You don’t understand what you’re taking about.
Whilst I’m enjoying your combative attitude, does a supplier doing it that (Windows) way, really prove your point?
Interesting that you perceive me telling you that you’re incorrect as “combative”. And yes it proves my point. You don’t understand what you’re taking about.
OK, maybe this quote from WSJ Article will help you understand:
CrowdStrike’s bug was so devastating because its security software, called Falcon, runs at the most central level of Windows, the kernel, so when an update to Falcon caused it to crash, it also took out the brains of the operating system. That is when the blue screen of death appeared.
In 2020, Apple told developers that its MacOS operating system would no longer grant them kernel-level access.
That change was a pain for Apple’s partners, but it also meant that a blue screen-style problem couldn’t happen on Macs, said Patrick Wardle, the chief executive of Mac security maker DoubleYou.
“What it meant was that a lot of third-party developers, ourselves included, had to rewrite our security software,” he said.
A Microsoft spokesman said it cannot legally wall off its operating system in the same way Apple does because of an understanding it reached with the European Commission following a complaint. In 2009, Microsoft agreed it would give makers of security software the same level of access to Windows that Microsoft gets.
Root cause of blue screen of death was a logic error (per software vendor) When an application program or utility is able to produce an error that causes the OS to abnormally end, that means that the OS is not properly protected from that error. The OS *should* respond with an error code and refuse to execute the instruction. I worked with both minicomputer and BSD Unix systems (and others) that did not crash the OS in many years. The last time I remember one of these crashing was around 1986. The requesting program should be returned an error code and/or be cancelled by the OS. Microsoft should patch the OS to create a more resilient product. Thank God most aircraft, spacecraft and weapons don't run Windows. The B-1 Bomber and Space Shuttle were designed with System/4s, others mainly use defense specific designs.
Terms of use for many OSs indicate they are not to be used for life-critical functions. Many applications and operating systems limit their liability to whatever you paid for the application or OS. You accept those terms by using the product.
Whilst I’m enjoying your combative attitude, does a supplier doing it that (Windows) way, really prove your point?
Interesting that you perceive me telling you that you’re incorrect as “combative”. And yes it proves my point. You don’t understand what you’re taking about.
OK, maybe this quote from WSJ Article will help you understand:
CrowdStrike’s bug was so devastating because its security software, called Falcon, runs at the most central level of Windows, the kernel, so when an update to Falcon caused it to crash, it also took out the brains of the operating system. That is when the blue screen of death appeared.
In 2020, Apple told developers that its MacOS operating system would no longer grant them kernel-level access.
That change was a pain for Apple’s partners, but it also meant that a blue screen-style problem couldn’t happen on Macs, said Patrick Wardle, the chief executive of Mac security maker DoubleYou.
“What it meant was that a lot of third-party developers, ourselves included, had to rewrite our security software,” he said.
A Microsoft spokesman said it cannot legally wall off its operating system in the same way Apple does because of an understanding it reached with the European Commission following a complaint. In 2009, Microsoft agreed it would give makers of security software the same level of access to Windows that Microsoft gets.
— Alison Sider contributed to this article.
Stupid decision on Microsofts part if the EU doesn't see sense fork the Windows OS in the EU and let them live in the tech past don't bring down the rest of the world.
Whilst I’m enjoying your combative attitude, does a supplier doing it that (Windows) way, really prove your point?
Interesting that you perceive me telling you that you’re incorrect as “combative”. And yes it proves my point. You don’t understand what you’re taking about.
OK, maybe this quote from WSJ Article will help you understand:
CrowdStrike’s bug was so devastating because its security software, called Falcon, runs at the most central level of Windows, the kernel, so when an update to Falcon caused it to crash, it also took out the brains of the operating system. That is when the blue screen of death appeared.
In 2020, Apple told developers that its MacOS operating system would no longer grant them kernel-level access.
That change was a pain for Apple’s partners, but it also meant that a blue screen-style problem couldn’t happen on Macs, said Patrick Wardle, the chief executive of Mac security maker DoubleYou.
“What it meant was that a lot of third-party developers, ourselves included, had to rewrite our security software,” he said.
A Microsoft spokesman said it cannot legally wall off its operating system in the same way Apple does because of an understanding it reached with the European Commission following a complaint. In 2009, Microsoft agreed it would give makers of security software the same level of access to Windows that Microsoft gets.
— Alison Sider contributed to this article.
Stupid decision on Microsofts part if the EU doesn't see sense fork the Windows OS in the EU and let them live in the tech past don't bring down the rest of the world.
Yeah, Microsnot has a lot of historical baggage, where 3rd parties are hooked on the drug of kernel access. Hard to escape that mutual dependancy! Maybe @dee_dee will have a solution? 😈
Comments
Terms of use for many OSs indicate they are not to be used for life-critical functions. Many applications and operating systems limit their liability to whatever you paid for the application or OS. You accept those terms by using the product.
iOS was designed from the ground up as a fresh start for personal computing in an always-connected internet age. Windows (and MacOS) were designed for isolated, stand-alone machines. The legacy roots of those systems leave huge vulnerabilities like this in place. MacOS has always been more buttoned up than windows and has been gradually working its way towards the iOS model. All of these operating systems should be headed in that direction, rather than going the other way.
Stupid decision on Microsofts part if the EU doesn't see sense fork the Windows OS in the EU and let them live in the tech past don't bring down the rest of the world.