Windows 7 Vulnerable to Memory Attack

[Christopher1]

Well, at least this is a 'physical access needed' attack. It's bad when some of these remote attacks can be done, though really those damned hackers are taking advantage of things that were put into Windows and other OS's to make people's lives easier.

 

[daggs]

can this be done is someway if the user is using a pcmcia wireless or wired card?

 

[dragunover]

"The research leading to the paper included using a PCMCIA card device that contained a custom DMA engine running on a MIPS CPU."
THIS INVALIDATES THE WHOLE THING. WHO THE HELL IS RUNNING WINDOWS 7 ON A MIPS CPU?

 

[Guest]

[citation][nom]dragunover[/nom]"The research leading to the paper included using a PCMCIA card device that contained a custom DMA engine running on a MIPS CPU."THIS INVALIDATES THE WHOLE THING. WHO THE HELL IS RUNNING WINDOWS 7 ON A MIPS CPU?[/citation]

Nobody, because it's not a supported architecture. I think the article meant that the add-in card is running the MIPS cpu.

 

[sidran32]

[citation][nom]regulas[/nom]You noticed it said older versions of OS X. I thought random memory addressing was all that and that MS was billions of light years ahead of OS X for security. Guess I was wrong as I sit outside having a cold Bud typing this on my Macbook Pro, keyboard illuminated because it is getting dark.[/citation]
Illluminated keyboards are cool, aren't they? I got mine when I bought my Dell desktop (Saitek Eclipse II) and my friend just got a Dell laptop with an illuminated keyboard as well. Pretty.

 

[CChick]

[citation][nom]regulas[/nom]You noticed it said older versions of OS X. I thought random memory addressing was all that and that MS was billions of light years ahead of OS X for security. Guess I was wrong as I sit outside having a cold Bud typing this on my Macbook Pro, keyboard illuminated because it is getting dark.[/citation]

Of course its light years a head. Hell, no one should ever try to compare Microsoft Windows Security to Mac GARBAGE OSX, cuz its not even the same level. One is working hard to lock things down, the other one is "pretending" that everything has been locked. Its just different.

Who the heck still uses PCMCIA these days? if he/she does, shame on him/her.

 

[mr_tuel]

Fortunately, most laptops sold today (and in the last 2 years) lack a PCMCIA port.

 

[m-manla]

Nothing for me to get scared of. Surprise anyone still uses those things.

 

[G-Systems]

A news-filler. Hmmm. I guess there's only so many times something newsworthy happens in this field...

Norton DNS? Good story with a review
Chrome OS? Good story with screenshots and speculation
Windows 7? Good story when there is actually news...like Windows Update doesn't always grab the best driver for your peripherals...or the added convenience of Windows Live Mail running in the background isn't as great if it doesn't disappear from the Taskbar (such as its behavior in XP).

Windows 7 64-bit is an awesome piece of software. Let's not attempt to defoul it unless absolutely necessary...

Another thing: Who's the genius capable of writing five paragraphs about this? He needs a raise for a clear skill of b-----i--ing

 

[D3LTA09]

If a hacker had direct access to my rig id be slightly more worried about how they got into my house and what they could steal rather than a memory exploit

 

[Ubrales]

Good info

 

[rodney_ws]

[citation][nom]kyeana[/nom]If someone has physical access to your computer, they can get into it. Don't see how this would be any easier then throwing the hard drive in a secondary machine and running a password cracker on it.[/citation]
Or using a bootable Linux CD and resetting the local Windows account's password. If someone has physical access to your box, it's game over if they're playing on the bad guys' team.

 

[Guest]

From that far away, I would use a hammer.

 

[The_Prophecy]

So basically, Windows 7 is just as secure as it was before this "vulnerability" was discovered. Wake me up when there is some real security related news.

 

[christopherknapp]

[citation][nom]sinfulpotato[/nom]Microsoft is light years ahead. The only reason windows gets more of these hacks and viruses is because apple can only convince so many idiots that paying double for something that does the same thing as a windows machine is a good thing.You'll see, once Steve jobs can make people stop thinking logically about their purchases and buy macs you'll be watching your bank accounts drain, and you SSN will be used in three different states... at the same time.[/citation]

Neither of my Macbook Pros has ever crashed. My Mac Pro runs 24/7 and has since I purchased it. I may have restarted twice in the last 6 months.

Any idiot who keeps that much personal information on the computer, or allows someone access to his/her computer, deserves to be hacked.

I have two Windows 7 machines, both of which I have had oodles of hardware and driver issues with since the get go. Until Microsoft gets rid of DLL's ... they are doomed.

 

[Camikazi]

3 WIndows 7 (2 x64 one x32) and 2 Windows XP comps, all 5 run 24/7 no crashes on any of them, driver installs no problem and all running fine. This is with the primary one being used as my TV, work and play comp, so lots of programs installed. Only time I restart is to update driver or Windows Update, aside form that they run perfectly. There I just effectly cancelled out your Windows is bad and horrible complaint

F.Y.I I also have a few friends who have had nothing but trouble with their Macs.

 

[eddieroolz]

Nothing to worry about here.

 

[TEAMSWITCHER]

[citation][nom]CChick[/nom]Of course its light years a head. Hell, no one should ever try to compare Microsoft Windows Security to Mac GARBAGE OSX, cuz its not even the same level. One is working hard to lock things down, the other one is "pretending" that everything has been locked. Its just different.Who the heck still uses PCMCIA these days? if he/she does, shame on him/her.[/citation]

I think the comparison is still warranted. Mac OS X has a far better track record of security than Windows. Windows is still (by default) hiding the extensions of files and showing the wrong icon. Anyone could easily create a file Best_Porn_Ever.jpg.exe and most windows users would think it was only a picture.

I find the M$ approach to security completely bizarre. They add ASLR (address space layout randomization) to the kernel, but refuse to remove a simple exploit that continues to fool the Windows user base. It's insane!

 

[djsting]

[citation][nom]regulas[/nom]Guess I was wrong as I sit outside having a cold Bud typing this on my Macbook Pro, keyboard illuminated because it is getting dark.[/citation]

Backlit keyboards are great, but who needs them if you already know how to type. You shouldn't need to look at the keyboard no matter how dark it gets.

 

[EvilMonk]

[citation][nom]christopherknapp[/nom]Neither of my Macbook Pros has ever crashed. My Mac Pro runs 24/7 and has since I purchased it. I may have restarted twice in the last 6 months. Any idiot who keeps that much personal information on the computer, or allows someone access to his/her computer, deserves to be hacked. I have two Windows 7 machines, both of which I have had oodles of hardware and driver issues with since the get go. Until Microsoft gets rid of DLL's ... they are doomed.[/citation]

Ah come on, stop that crap.

I have 2 2007 Mac Pros with Dual Xeon Dual Core 5150 2.66Ghz and 8Gb of FBDIMM.
The Radeons X1900XT in both Mac Pro started to show artifacts after a little more than a year, both cards are dead and I had to buy 2 Radeon 4870 Mac Edition at 500$ each, all that because Apple hardware monopoly is shit, you want a video card? Then pay 3 times more than the PC market price of a Radeon HD 4870 and the thing is, you have no choice, you need the stupid EFI revision of the DAMN card.

 

[kdashjl]

it's very easy to blame win 7 why no blame the hardware

 

[Gin Fushicho]

And Microsoft is worried about this becaussseee?

I'm not worried about it, some one would have to be physically at my computer, and I only let people I trust close to it. A.K.A. only one person.

 

[gzhang]

There is a legit reason why this is a hack. Consider a university or library computer system that can be accessed by many people and the admin only want to give guest access to all users. Now with this hack, the low privilege user could gain higher privileges and by pass security, and will be able to do what ever they want (make the machine as a spam hub etc)

 

[djsting]

[citation][nom]christopherknapp[/nom]Neither of my Macbook Pros has ever crashed. My Mac Pro runs 24/7 and has since I purchased it. I may have restarted twice in the last 6 months. Any idiot who keeps that much personal information on the computer, or allows someone access to his/her computer, deserves to be hacked. I have two Windows 7 machines, both of which I have had oodles of hardware and driver issues with since the get go. Until Microsoft gets rid of DLL's ... they are doomed.[/citation]


I also have 2 windows 7 machines. One was a 4 year old Acer notebook that shipped with xp home. The other was a desktop I custom built. Neither of them have had any driver issues. When I upgraded the video and sound card, again no problems. In fact the only time I had a driver issue, it was my own fault. I bought a netgear wireless nic on ebay, not realizing that it didn't have a 64bit driver...Maybe i'll blame MS for that :/

I also want to point out that I'm a computer tech for a school district in which one of our schools is an all Mac environment. Let me just say this...yes, they do crash.

 

[izz4u2mm]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOhhhhhhhh I was just looking for recomendation as to which windows 7 to buy...home, home pro or the ultimate??. then this story broke out..wow what to do I was starting to think all was ok with this ver 7 but oh well same oh same oh. anyone think all this hacking etc will ever stop with windows ??
Manny hopeless and helpless