Comments on: Malware piggybacks on Windows updates

Who says there's no such thing as a free ride? Ask the Trojan that's been piggybacking on a Windows update component to do its dirty deeds.

[thenet411]

There awtta be a law

If people were required to be licensed before owning a computer, things like this wouldn't happen. Look into it.

[Dalkorian]

somewhat true, but ...

thenet411 had this thought:

"If people were required to be licensed before owning a
computer, things like this wouldn't happen."

True.

I had this thought:

If Micro$loth could build a decent OS that wasn't able to be
hacked by almost any 12 year old in minutes, this wouldn't
happen either.

True.

Come on already, hackers are now using Winblows Update to
download malware around all installed firewalls and all other
security measures. What part of that isn't funny?

[ajhoughton]

Not a practical suggestion

It does sound like a nice idea, doesn't it, but you soon run into
problems with the idea:

1. Who sets the conditions for the license? (If an MS-centric IT
specialist did it, it might not even be possible to comply with the
terms on non-Microsoft systems, for instance because of anti-
virus software requirements.)

2. How is this going to be enforced?

3. As legislators in the U.S. and elsewhere are so fond of
forgetting, the Internet is an international network, not a
national one. Sure, you could probably make this law in the U.S.,
and maybe in some parts of Europe too, but you need it to be
law *everywhere* in order for it to be worthwhile.

Of course, if we made the Internet into its own separate state,
able to raise tax revenue from online sales, and gave it its own
law, its own courts and its own police force, then yes, we could
probably do this. But in that case we might not even need to,
because it would be much easier to arrest and prosecute people
for distributing malware in the first place. (The problem with
that idea is that it's perhaps even less likely to happen than a
global licensing scheme :-))

[thenet411]

There awtta be a law

If people were required to be licensed before owning a computer, things like this wouldn't happen. Look into it.