Vista’s Memory Protection Safeguards Rendered Useless
Posted by ThePaladin on August 18th, 2008
The Paladin has been following a rather interesting story regarding some security features that were added to Windows Vista. It seems that two very respected security experts are claiming that a lot of the new protection added to Vista can be relatively easily bypassed (see the original story by clicking here).
You see, the engineers at Microsoft incorporated into Vista some advanced techniques of handling memory in order to make it difficult for “hackers” to be able to break Vista’s security by plucking important pieces of information out of memory. Techniques such as randomly relocating blocks of memory, or encrypting (scrambling) parts of memory are just some of the things they employed. However, it appears that after all of their clever work, a couple of computer scientists claim to have figured out a simple way to get around it all.
Now, before proceeding I should mention that the Paladin is NOT a fan of Vista at all! His general feelings about Vista are as follows:
- Vista is way too big (takes up too many resources). You are pretty much forced to have to make a major investment in upgrading your computer in order to run it
- Vista is way too expensive
- Vista is way too buggy! (it has too many problems)
- Vista is far too focused on trying to keep you from pirating vista, downloading music and videos, etc., than it is on doing the job it is supposed to. Namely, running your computer!
Of all of these problems, the Paladin feels that there is a basic software problem that most companies learned back in the 1980’s that Microsoft seems to have missed.
You see, way back then the Paladin was an independent creator and seller of software packages. At one time, he briefly tried incorporating “copy protection” onto the disks (yes, we used floppy disks way back then!) of his products, as did several other companies.
After one or two releases, the Paladin went back and stripped out all copy protection from his products. Why? Because he experienced what every other company using copy protection experienced:
- Those who wanted to “crack” the copy protection and steal your software always will find a way. Since a human being created the copy protection, there is always another human being (or team of human beings) that are just a bit more clever and can figure out just how to do it.
- In the end, the only ones that had a problem with the copy protection were the honest paying customers.
- Ultimately, the thieves still got the software and the Paladin had an increase in tech support calls because of honest customers encountering problems with the copy protection.
It is the Paladin’s personal opinion that Microsoft still somehow feels that they can lock down a desktop operating system in such a way as to prevent others from being able to crack it. The fact is, the Paladin just doesn’t believe this will every happen (or at least not for long) for the reasons previously stated.
To return to the article, our intrepid security experts have apparently come up with a new way to “attack” the new memory security features in Windows Vista. They claim that this new method of attack is such that Microsoft may find it impossible to block with a simple software fix (they are claiming that the very thing they are exploiting is so basic to the architecture of Windows that it cannot just be “patched”).
At any rate, the Paladin feels you would be wise to realize that protection for your computer is a lot like what he was taught when he was young about car thieves. The point of locking your car, installing alarms, etc. is to deter the curious or mischievous. In the end, if a “pro” wants your car, they ARE going to get it. You just want to make your car as unattractive as possible (so they go and steal your neighbor’s car!).
If you are purchasing Vista in order to increase the security of your data, you would be best to rethink such a move. In fact, the Paladin makes it a point NEVER to buy a Microsoft operating system (or really just about any operating system) within the first year or two of its release. He likes to give the community a chance to find out all the holes in it (and hopefully have them fixed) before he commits himself to a new operating system.
Of course, Microsoft is doing their best to change those dynamics by no longer offering the perfectly suitable Windows XP. The Paladin’s thoughts on this are another sermon for another time.
However, the Paladin does need to point out that citizens of the realm have no excuse for pirating software! Such things are beneath a true warrior of the computer, and the Paladin hopes that none of his readers would ever stoop to such a depth. Do not sacrifice your honor for the sake of copying a disk! If you feel software is overpriced, the proper thing to do is NOT TO BUY IT! And by this, the Paladin does not mean use it without paying for it!
The Paladin has certainly “rambled” in this post, but he hopes that what you take from all of this is that “security,” when it comes to computers, is a very fluid thing. There really is no such thing as a “completely secure” computer system…and the Paladin doubts if there every will be.