Bill Gates, you might owe the US gov\'t $2.2 trillion

[GmanJoe]

http://theregister.co.uk/content/6/30620.html

Microsoft\'s latest security lapse with its Passport information service could trigger a $2.2 trillion fine on the company courtesy of the US government.

Microsoft on Thursday admitted that a flaw in the password reset tool of its Passport service could compromise the information stored on all 200 million users. It scampered to post a fix and is looking into potential exploits, but the damage to Microsoft may already have been done.

The Federal Trade Commission last year demanded that Microsoft improve its Passport security or face stiff fines of up to $11,000 per violation. Redmond promised to work harder to protect consumer information and launched it\'s Trustworthy Computing initiative to put regulators\' minds at ease.

Well, the FTC is looking into the Passport breach and could slap Microsoft with a fine of $2.2 trillion to cover all 200 million violated users.

Anyway.....back to Xbox bashing. See at the Console Debating.

So we\'re the ones who get our security compromised and it\'s the FTC that gets all that dough?  Gimme!!!

Originally posted by GmanJoe
Anyway.....back to Xbox bashing. See at the Console Debating.

I don\'t think Bill can pay those fines.

Poor Bill...

good, perhaps this will cripple m$

[Kurt Angle]

No more xbox!!!!!!!

I hope the Xbox doesnt die out. I dont like it personally. Sure some great titles.

Imagine- the gamecube and the ps2 are the only left. Sure thing the quality would drop because the gamecube cant really compare.

Bill Gates is going to live in my garage.

[Living-In-Clip]

Imagine- the gamecube and the ps2 are the only left. Sure thing the quality would drop because the gamecube cant really compare.

Where do you pull these idea\'s from? Out of your ass?

*lost*
The NGC has more than enough quality titles. It can\'t compete with the PS2 , but as far as doin\' well on it\'s own without the Xbox, it would be a profitable machine for Nintendo.

[Titan]

Yes, MS won\'t take over the world

Not only would it cripple M$ but it might help to boost our economy.

Where do you pull these idea\'s from? Out of your ass?

Its all about competition. If you have none- you have nothing to worry and can pump out lots of crappy titles, but keep enough so they want to continue to buy.

Example: Locally, our Kmart just closed down. Now that leaves Fred Meyers left. The week after Kmart closed- you can notice the change in prices. It rose about 2 dollars for a CD. Now that may not seem like alot. But 17 dollars to 19 can change alot. Its all over the store- DVD\'s = 21.99 and up.

Originally posted by mm
good, perhaps this will cripple m$

Cripple?  I think more than just cripple, He will have to go bankrupt.   I have to keep an eye on this!

yeah, god forbid you don\'t have xbox news to post

Microsoft is a corporation worth billions and billions on dollars. Bill gates only has around 60billion. I doubt bill gates would crumble if MS was hit with fines.

The corporation would crumble but not bill gates, but I doubt this would ever happen. Doesn\'t seem likely.

I thnk it\'s based on this.

Arrival of Windows Server 2003 Heralds New Era for Software Security

REDMOND, Wash., April 14, 2003 -- For countless people and businesses around the world, the Internet is a dream come true, but at times that dream has nearly become a nightmare. Along with the benefits of instant global communication and increased connectivity, new security risks have emerged on a scale that few anticipated or could have imagined. As people everywhere increase their reliance on the Internet to help them communicate and conduct business, the need for a secure computing platform becomes more apparent and more critical each day.

Windows Server 2003, which Microsoft will make generally available on April 24, will set a new security standard for server operating systems. Windows Server 2003 is the first operating system released by Microsoft since the company\'s chairman and chief software architect, Bill Gates, challenged all 50,000 Microsoft employees in January 2002 to build more Trustworthy Computing products and services for customers that would make computing as worry free as the electricity that powers their homes and offices.

"We want to get to the point where security is a given, where people use software and computing technology with the same confidence they have when they turn on a lamp or pick up a phone," says Michael Stephenson, lead product manager in the Windows Server division at Microsoft. "We\'re not there yet, but we will get there. Windows Server 2003 is a huge step forward."

Security is just one of the four pillars of the Trustworthy Computing initiative—the other three are privacy, reliability and business integrity—but Stephenson and Steve Lipner, director of security assurance in the Security Business Unit at Microsoft, say that Microsoft is committed to making all of its software secure by design, secure by default, and secure in deployment, as well as communicating proactively with customers to provide the notification, resources and guidance they need to maintain a secure computing environment.

Secure by Design

Early in 2002, in response to Gates\' challenge, Microsoft took the unprecedented step of ordering more than 11,000 Windows engineers to "stand down" and halt all development work, while the company conducted 10 weeks of intensive security training, testing and analysis, and developers searched the Windows code base for potential vulnerabilities.

All Windows engineers, plus thousands of engineers in other parts of the company, were taught to write secure code, which included specialized testing techniques and threat modeling. The threat-modeling process taught program managers, architects and testers to think like attackers—and half of all bugs identified during the Windows security push were found during threat-model analysis. Microsoft even trained the people who write product documentation to write with security in mind, to make it easier for customers to understand how to implement and maintain security on the Windows platform.

Much more here.
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2003/Apr03/04-14WS03Security.asp