NationStates Jolt Archive

A Microsoft executive calls the ease with which two British e-crime specialists managed to hack into a Windows XP computer as both "enlightening and frightening."

But when you read the first paragraph...

* It has no antivirus
* It has no firewall
* It has no anti-spyware
* It's full of stealable passwords
* It's connected to an unsecure network

That's like leaving your car in Newark with the doors open and the keys in the ignition, then being shocked when you come back and find it stolen!

Source: http://www.news.com/Microsoft-exec-calls-XP-hack-frightening/2100-7349_3-6218238.html

And apologies to any NSers who live in Newark.

On the Windows OS, can't one just reboot the PC and run it in safe mode?

all "safe Mode" does is run Windows with ONLY the basic Drivers.

What I mean is that you can easily 'break into' someone's PC in that way.

I am assuming that all the files on the computer would still be accessible of course.

But when you read the first paragraph...

* It has no antivirus
* It has no firewall
* It has no anti-spyware
* It's full of stealable passwords
* It's connected to an unsecure network

That's like leaving your car in Newark with the doors open and the keys in the ignition, then being shocked when you come back and find it stolen!

Source: http://www.news.com/Microsoft-exec-calls-XP-hack-frightening/2100-7349_3-6218238.html

And apologies to any NSers who live in Newark.

Next, doctors will now prove that if one does NOT watch what they eat and get NO exercise, then they will get fat.

and later, animal experts will testify that violently pulling on the tail of a dog can lead to dog bites. :rolleyes:

And apologies to any NSers who live in Newark.

Newark is an american version, the australian equivalent is Macquarie Fields.

and also sorry for anyone living there who doesnt steal cars...

On the Windows OS, can't one just reboot the PC and run it in safe mode?

all "safe Mode" does is run Windows with ONLY the basic Drivers.

only some?

What I mean is that you can easily 'break into' someone's PC in that way.

I am assuming that all the files on the computer would still be accessible of course.
If you have physical access to the computer just pop in a Live CD/USB (an operating system that can run from a CD or USB memory rather than a hard drive) and reboot. That OS doesn't care what user accounts, passwords or other security the OS installed on the hard drive has, as long as the files are there and not encrypted it can read them. The only way to transfer or store data in a secure manner is with encryption.

If you have physical access to the computer just pop in a Live CD/USB (an operating system that can run from a CD or USB memory rather than a hard drive) and reboot. That OS doesn't care what user accounts and passwords the OS installed on the hard drive has.

The only way to transfer or store data in a secure manner is with encryption.

That makes sense.
*plots*

But when you read the first paragraph...

* It has no antivirus
* It has no firewall
* It has no anti-spyware
* It's full of stealable passwords
* It's connected to an unsecure network

That's like leaving your car in Newark with the doors open and the keys in the ignition, then being shocked when you come back and find it stolen!

Source: http://www.news.com/Microsoft-exec-calls-XP-hack-frightening/2100-7349_3-6218238.html

And apologies to any NSers who live in Newark.

When will you silly primates learn...humanity is mother nature's joke. It's like the willful screw-up whose soul purpose is to provide humor. :rolleyes:

If you have physical access to the computer just pop in a Live CD/USB (an operating system that can run from a CD or USB memory rather than a hard drive) and reboot. That OS doesn't care what user accounts, passwords or other security the OS installed on the hard drive has, as long as the files are there and not encrypted it can read them. The only way to transfer or store data in a secure manner is with encryption.

not really. the machine has to also be set to boot from a USB port. something we (at work) don't allow. ;)

oh and the os has to be close enough to be compatable. a win98 bootup cd won't grant access to some XP directories.

I think what this thread really needs is someone posting a way to access files from other accounts on the same computer

I think what this thread really needs is someone posting a way to access files from other accounts on the same computer

Reboot. Reboot while in the process of rebooting. Safe mode with networking. :cool:

I think what this thread really needs is someone posting a way to access files from other accounts on the same computer

:rolleyes: *whistles innocently*

only some?

If we were ALL idiots, we would've died a hell of long time ago. We need some form of intelligent live within our species.

If we were ALL idiots, we would've died a hell of long time ago. We need some form of intelligent live within our species.

but look at all the success stories of are species:

http://godandculture.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/bono.jpg

http://i.thisislondon.co.uk/i/pix/2007/03/10L_23_mika_23_243x340.jpg

as you can see evolution favors simple creatures especially when saber tooths die out

but look at all the success stories of are species:

as you can see evolution favors simple creatures especially when saber tooths die out

that's because the preditors never learned this simple rule (http://www.herdthinners.com/index.phtml?current=19970905).

not really. the machine has to also be set to boot from a USB port. something we (at work) don't allow. ;)
That's impressive, judging by how clueless people usually are I didn't think anyone would be clever enough to disable the "press F12 to enter boot menu"-thing one needs to choose to boot from USB and password protect the BIOS menu so it can't be turned back on again.
oh and the os has to be close enough to be compatable. a win98 bootup cd won't grant access to some XP directories.
"Let's hope hackers use a 10 year old OS without support for modern file systems" isn't good security.