Man goes ballistic, says Linux is a security threat [Inquirer]

[truthisfreedom]

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=15274

Man goes ballistic, says Linux is a security threat

No, he's not from SCO
By INQUIRER staff:
Sunday 11 April 2004, 17:28


EE TIMES said a real time operating system (RTOS) firm has gone apeshit bananas about the very idea of using Linux in embedded systems because it poses a security threat.

The magazine quotes CEO Dan O'Dowd from a firm called Green Hills as saying that Linux is wide open to attacks by foreign intelligence agencies and terrorists.

<snip>

But O'Dowd feels that code added from evil empires like China are being added daily into command control, comms systems and weapons systems.

There's much more of this here. http://www.eet.com/sys/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=18900949

[oostevo]

1. ROFL

So, what, everyone should buy that company's embedded, proprietary systems because they're more secure, right?

[truthisfreedom]

2. i just had to post the article when i read the words "apesh*t bananas."

[drfemoe]

3. fix link

http://www.eet.com/sys/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=18900949

[truthisfreedom]

5. fixed, thanks

[Phelan]

4. 10 bucks says till will be on Slashdot.org within the day

10 bucks says till will be on Slashdot.org within the day

[uberotto]

8. You're too late...

it was posted there yesterday.

[The Zanti Regent]

6. Then why does Micro$**t have all those viruses and patches?

I rarely see Linux viruses or Mac viruses for that matter

[truthisfreedom]

7. interestingly enough, the first mac virus i've heard of surfaced on thurs

http://www.nypost.com/business/18547.htm

NEW VIRUS TARGETS APPLE FOR MAC ATTACK

By PAUL THARP
April 10, 2004 -- The once peaceful world of Apple Computers is said to be under growing attack from a new Trojan horse virus disguised as a music download.

The attacks on Macs could be caused by Apple's rising star status in the digital jukebox world with its iTunes.

Security software firm Intego disclosed the new virus on Thursday, saying it had discovered it in a download study from various parts of the world.

The yet-to-be-named virus attacks Apple's new operating system, Mac OS X.

"This is the first native Mac OS virus we've found," Brian Davis, Intego's sales manager, said.

<snip>

[papau]

9. Your CIA money at work testing good spy technique?

On Apple - and I suspect soon on Linux

[nolabels]

10. Hey, they use their money wisely. If you notice they.............

like to do the experiments on GI's who have no recourse in the matters, thus eliminating a lot of liability

http://www.wealth4freedom.com/truth/SECRET2.htm

A History of Secret U.S. Government Programs

"Justice is incidental to law and order."
J. Edgar Hoover

The following is a list of this century's most controversial government activities.

1931
Dr. Cornelius Rhoads, under the auspices of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Investigations, infects human subjects with cancer cells. He later goes on to establish the U.S. Army Biological Warfare facilities in Maryland, Utah, and Panama, and is named to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. While there, he begins a series of radiation exposure experiments on American soldiers and civilian hospital patients.

1932
The Tuskegee Syphilis Study begins. 200 black men diagnosed with syphilis are never told of their illness, are denied treatment, and instead are used as human guinea pigs in order to follow the progression and symptoms of the disease. They all subsequently die from syphilis, their families never told that they could have been treated.

1935
The Pellagra Incident. After millions of individuals die from Pellagra over a span of two decades, the U.S. Public Health Service finally acts to stem the disease. The director of the agency admits it had known for at least 20 years that Pellagra is caused by a niacin deficiency but failed to act since most of the deaths occured within poverty-striken black populations.

1940
Four hundred prisoners in Chicago are infected with Malaria in order to study the effects of new and experimental drugs to combat the disease. Nazi doctors later on trial at Nuremberg cite this American study to defend their own actions during the Holocaust.

1942
Chemical Warfare Services begins mustard gas experiments on approximately 4,000 servicemen. The experiments continue until 1945 and made use of Seventh Day Adventists who chose to become human guinea pigs rather than serve on active duty.
(snip)

[arikara]

12. They target your own American civilians too

They spread germs through the subway system in NY, and sprayed over many cities in the US and even other countries, Winnipeg was mentioned.

There is something dreadfully wrong with your military complex, they certainly are NOT there to protect the so-called "homeland" when they are so busy laying waste to your own people and country. I much prefer ours (Canada) they can continue to be underfunded forever.

[EV1Ltimm]

11. what's the ratio of ms to mac/linux users?

whenever you have hundreds of millions of people using your software, security vulnerabilities are bound to be found. linux and mac on the other hand have a much smaller slice of the os pie, so security flaws and exploits aren't as readily found.

just my 2 cents.

[rman]

13. since it's open source we'll find China's back doors soon enough.

or, as one slashdotter puts it
http://developers.slashdot.org/developers/04/04/10/2033219.shtml?tid=126&tid=172&tid=185&tid=190
"Come on. These guys have a valid point. When you rely on high-quality closed source vendors like Cisco at least you guarentee you won't have back doors built into your system.

Oh. Wait. Nevermind."

(recently a back door was discovered in Cisco routers)
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/04/08/1920228&mode=thread&tid=126&tid=158&tid=172&tid=99

[Vogon_Glory]

14. Microsoft and Mount Rainier

Hello? Anyone who hasn't thought that the software designers for our most widely-used personal computer operating system and a lot of business software might be living near a volcano hasn't been thinking about national security threats.

The more I think of it, the happier I'd be if there was a widespread alternative to MS Windows.

[mouse7]

15. Green Hills is in the Ada language business. This is just marketing.

Ada is a computer programming language developed for the Defense Department. Contractors have been dropping using Ada for development since the Defense Department dropped it's requirement to use it.

Green Hills profits from making people paranoid.