Random photos, comics, etc.

[Randy Stankey]

So all a bad actor needs to do is to fool a client into believing that their malicious code comes from CrowdStrike (not difficult if unsigned), and then they have full control over the PC.

I was just about to suggest the same thing. Essentially, what CrowdStrike has done is to provide every hacker in the world an easy way to inject malicious code directly into the kernel in a virtually undetectable way!

It looks like CrowdStrike has shot themselves in the testicles! No reasonably intelligent person would get within a mile of their product! Now, their flagship product is essentially dead in the water!

I think I'm going to go back to what I first said... "Bye, bye! We're done!" <click>

[Leo Enticknap]

Apparently, the Crowdstrike software runs as a driver, inside kernel space, but updates are sent out as P-code which resides outside of kernel space. Essentially, this allows unsigned code to be run inside kernel space without authentication.

This isn't just an "Oops! My bad!" moment! Somebody screwed the pooch!

That's an understatement. Shot it, Kristi Noem-style, and then screwed its corpse, more like! So all a bad actor needs to do is to fool a client into believing that their malicious code comes from CrowdStrike (not difficult if unsigned), and then they have full control over the PC.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I am staying with Win10 as well.

BTW: You can install Win10 on a digitally activated Win11 machine. It has to be the same version (Home or Pro).

When I got my HP Z2, I loaded 10 Pro on and no activation was required. It had an embeded liscense on it for 11 Pro. So I assume this is what you are referring to.
I have a number of 10 and 11 Pro install disks here, but it's much faster to download the latest install from Microsoft as it always includes the latest updates and that makes installation time much faster.

[Ed Gordon]

Tony, Don't use W-11... I had it on one computer and replaced it with 10. It's awful... You can still get 10 COA's easily, then.download it from MS's site. Microsoft is rethinking the future support for it too, as in they will likely extend doing the updates. Possibly on a subscription basis. As awful as 11 is, and the stuff I've read about 12, I can imagine some new OS coming along and everyone switching to it. I'm sticking with 10 till hell freezes over.

I am staying with Win10 as well.

BTW: You can install Win10 on a digitally activated Win11 machine. It has to be the same version (Home or Pro).

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Tony, Don't use W-11... I had it on one computer and replaced it with 10. It's awful... You can still get 10 COA's easily, then.download it from MS's site. Microsoft is rethinking the future support for it too, as in they will likely extend doing the updates. Possibly on a subscription basis. As awful as 11 is, and the stuff I've read about 12, I can imagine some new OS coming along and everyone switching to it. I'm sticking with 10 till hell freezes over.

[Tony Bandiera Jr]

"The more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain." - Montgomery Scott (James Doohan, RIP)

Microdork's Winblows OS is a prime example.

I have gone through the steps to disable and remove all the bloatware from Winblows 11, only to have it magically reappear every time it tries to do updates, which I have set to do manually....but somehow it reinstalls/re-enables services that I have disabled.

My next step will be to block connections to Winblows updates on my firewall.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Randy, I love that his last name is Plumber... very fitting!

[Randy Stankey]

Okay, the guy who dropped it onto the server.

I watched a video, yesterday, that explained the problem and, oh boy! Somebody's got some 'splainin to do!

https://youtu.be/wAzEJxOo1ts?si=ZK5XXCFc1rdGxJHZ

Apparently, the Crowdstrike software runs as a driver, inside kernel space, but updates are sent out as P-code which resides outside of kernel space. Essentially, this allows unsigned code to be run inside kernel space without authentication.

This isn't just an "Oops! My bad!" moment! Somebody screwed the pooch!

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I certainly wouldn't want to be the guy who pushed the button that sent out that update!

Oh, they'll say... that was done by a computer, automatically. Not by a person!!

[Randy Stankey]

You're right. Sic the lawyers on 'em!

Just as you suggest, I'm sure that there are plenty of lawyers already knocking at their proverbial doors.

From a quick check of the internet, the company's net income for FY-24 was close to $90 million. Damage estimates for this incident are likely to top a billion! I know that finances don't work exactly like this but, from some thumbnail math, Crowdstrike has likely screwed themselves for the next ten years.

I certainly wouldn't want to be the guy who pushed the button that sent out that update!

[Leo Enticknap]

My second call would be to the guy in charge of CrowdStrike... The entire conversation would be something like, "We're done." <click>

I suspect that in many of these scenarios, the second call will be to an attorney, with his or her brief being to get medieval on CrowdStrike's ass. CrowdStrike's liability insurer has likely received a few calls by now, too.

[Martin McCaffery]

"Oops! My bad," is NOT an acceptable answer!

Fortunately, customer service is NEVER allowed to say the company made a mistake.

[Randy Stankey]

In your opinion, what would be an acceptable answer?

When I was managing the stage at Mercyhurst, I had to train new students to work in the loading gallery, 50 ft. above deck. I taught them how to load 20 kg., cast iron counterweights onto the appropriate line sets. The rule was that you NEVER held weights with only one hand. Always two hands. I explained that, if a weight falls fifty feet to the deck, equipment is going to be damaged and people could easily be killed.

I also told students, "There is no punishment for dropping counterweights." When people ask, "Why? What do you mean?" my answer is, "Because it doesn't happen!"

In the same respect, I can't think of an acceptable answer because it shouldn't have happened in the first place.

I'm not trying to be a hard ass. I don't expect things to be perfect all the time. Yes, I understand that people make mistakes. So do I.
All my life, since I can remember, people told me to work hard, to do things right, to try my hardest. All my life, I struggled to get things right. Come to find out, I have a learning disability that I didn't discover until I was over forty, almost fifty. However, I got through, okay, because I tried my hardest. I learned to cope with problems and work around them. I know how hard it can be but it pisses me off when people who don't have problems like I do slack off, fuck up and don't seem to care.

If I can learn to do things right when I have to try twice as hard just to be thought of as half as good, why can't other people, who don't have disabilities, do their jobs right the first time?

Airlines, at least, should have a separate data center of their own at each airport. If this country ever had a terrorist attack we'd be at a giant shand still again.

Yeah! You, me and a bunch of other people at FT have been saying the same kinds of things for how long?

How long will it be before we get another, "Oops! My bad!"

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Frank, Southwest likely has their own data centers. I think you'll see more airlines building their own centers.

[Frank Cox]

"Oops! My bad," is NOT an acceptable answer!

In your opinion, what would be an acceptable answer?

Southwest is still flying high, unaffected by the outage that’s plaguing the world today, and that’s apparently because it’s using Windows 3.1.

This article is highly misleading. Southwest is still flying because they are not a Crowdstrike subscriber. Just like any other company that's not a Crowdstrike subscriber, regardless of whether they're using an obsolete version of Microsoft Windows, a current version of Microsoft Windows, or Linux or anything else.