For a few years now my main PC at home has run Linux as I've never really been happy with Microsofts policies, snooping and the constant need to update the antivirus, before some smug git says 'get a Mac' at one point I'd have agreed with you but not these days. Apple stopped using Motorola CPU's a while ago these where totally incompatible with Intels offerings but as the new Macs use the intel chips and can run Windows your fancy new Mac is nothing more than a PC in an Apple crate and as vulnerable as the rest of the PC's running Windows. Getting back on track, the two recent cyber attacks have demonstrated how much chaos and disruption can be caused when you base critical systems on an Operating System that have vulnerablities and Windows has plenty. Watching the news the other day I saw the lanch of our biggest naval vessel then yesterday I find out the computers that run the ship use Windows XP they may have been cutting edge when the ship was commissioned but now Microsoft no longer support XP.
In someways I can see why the Windows platform gets chosen to develop sytems for the likes of the NHS, local councils etc. you're not starting from scratch, development tools (and hacker tools) are plentifull as are people who know how to use them and in my opinion the latter is part of the problem, too many people know what makes Windows tick.
No operating system is truely safe but the more obscure or bespoke it is reduces the knowledge base and the effort needed to break the system discourages all but the most determined. So getting back to the original question.
Should we ditch MS Windows for crtical systems and infrastucture or as I read in the paper just go bomb the hacker b@stards?
In someways I can see why the Windows platform gets chosen to develop sytems for the likes of the NHS, local councils etc. you're not starting from scratch, development tools (and hacker tools) are plentifull as are people who know how to use them and in my opinion the latter is part of the problem, too many people know what makes Windows tick.
No operating system is truely safe but the more obscure or bespoke it is reduces the knowledge base and the effort needed to break the system discourages all but the most determined. So getting back to the original question.
Should we ditch MS Windows for crtical systems and infrastucture or as I read in the paper just go bomb the hacker b@stards?
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That place is reserved for Nazis, mentals and baby alligators.