Redmond updates make you more vulnerable

The other day I was reading a blog at tech republic, where the author talks about .Net Framework SP1 update released in February 2009. In his report he says that the release documents goes on ranting about all the changes it brings on this update with the exception of one very big important security vulnerability. It seems, this update “installs the Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant extension for Firefox, silently, without informing the user“. OOh! That doesnt sound nice at all, does it? Coming to the important aspect of what this extension does, here is what the Annoyances.org says,

This update adds to Firefox one of the most dangerous vulnerabilities present in all versions of Internet Explorer: the ability for websites to easily and quietly install software on your PC. Since this design flaw is one of the reasons you may’ve originally choosen to abandon IE in favor of a safer browser like Firefox, you may wish to remove this extension with all due haste.”

And that statement is absoultely outrageous! I personally consider this as an invasion of privacy by Mircrosoft. How on the earth can u roll out an update which enables the computer to be flooded with spyware?And installation of an update without even notifying the user Security is a very important issue. If updates make easy for spywares to come into your system then what is the point of having such an insecure operating system?

For those who don’t know, Internet explorer has this bug in all its versions and still suffers from this security lapse, which is one reason many switched to firefox.

The author is so frustrated that he even goes on to the extent of saying to get rid of Windows altogether! Here is what he says..

I recommend you do the registry hacking necessary to carve this thing out of the guts of your system, get rid of Firefox entirely and use one of the other third-party Web browsers that isn’t known for screwing its users, or just get rid of MS Windows entirely, at this point.

Ofcoure , I  agree with him. If the operating system cannot provide the intended security to the users while internet banking and online puchase, allows intruders and invites spywares to install on the system silently what is the point of running  such an OS?

Anyway, there might be another twist to it. Maybe they will push for a new anti-spyware bloatware to be pushed down the naive customer’s throat or may be it is another way to show how insecure firefox is compared to IE?? Who knows? Either way, seems the redmond comany is plotting its own downfall!

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