this post was submitted on 16 Apr 2026
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Oh cool. Cool cool cool.
Crowdstrike processes their signature files in kernel mode. Defender helpfully pastes malware over system files. Ivanti has a new critical vulnerability every week or so. Why are security vendors incompetent?
Because they know they have such a chokehold on the market. I remember back in the XP days it felt like every year there was a new top tier security product that people were trying.
Because all software is insecure.
You hear a lot about them because they are used in government and large enterprise environments when threat actors love to attack.
Having a responsible disclosure process where they announce problems so their customers know it's patching time. It's better then it use to be where a vendor threw out a patch and if you didn't patch because the vendor didn't say why the patch was released.
There's a reason why Isolated Networks are big money these days. Everyone expects their shit connected to the internet will be hit eventually and anyone that thinks they are safe are probably already being hit.
anyone that thinks they are safe are probably already being hit.
Is that the IT Sec version of "If you think you're never wrong, you already are"?
I probably should have used the analogy my VD doctor gave me, "If you keep dippin your tip even with the best of protection on you'll eventually find a walking biohazard that even I can't bring you back from."
Some of it is incompetence, but some is... more complicated incompetence. A lot of the weirdness you see is where some executive somewhere had a problem that affected him and had enough money/clout to throw around that they could make whatever just happen. Microsoft is the worst at this.
Gotta let some shit happen or people won't think they're doing anything.
Can't exactly let your hard work go unrecognized by the shareholders now, can ya?
Crowdstrike has an impressive marketing budget.
BlackBerry cylance was a better product in every aspect but BB didn’t try to market it after aquiring it.
You're telling me that Window's built-in antivirus software is what actually installs the virus? 🤣🤣🤣
This must be part of the “Windows commitment to quality”.
85% or more of the cybersecurity market is about, and because of, Windows.
Srs, if Windows wasn't used at all, cybersecurity would be as big an industry as Etsy.
Windows tries to mimic Unix for all its "important" features, but it isn't. It's a surveillance slop sundae on top of decades of organic growth on top of bad decisions based on DOS. And it's made them one of the richest companies in the history of the world.
Story time: There was another operating system very much like Windows called OS/2. This operating system was made by IBM and Microsoft. It even had DOS and NT kernel compatibility and is where the NT kernel came from. While MS and IBM were working on OS/2 MS secretly developed Windows and made deals with third-party PC manufacturers like HP and Compaq for them to run Windows and not OS/2. Despite the fact that Microsoft was where it was then because IBM had chosen DOS for its PC operating system until that time.
OS/2 still got an interesting life though. It was widely used as an embedded operating system well into the 2000s. If you ever used an ATM or cash register in the early 2000s you almost certainly used OS/2.
Windows did not get where it is today through organic growth. It did so by standing on the shoulders of giants and dealing under the table.
Don't forget how they patent trolled the entire Linux community for more than a decade and that Novell-Suse helped them.
All of this is 100% correct, but to shed some light on the perspective you're replying to: this deep into dystopia, slimy business bullshit as opposed to literal dictates from the surveillance state counts as "organic growth" for a lot of people
The joke was that they called it OS/2 because it was half an operating system.
Despite the fact that Microsoft was where it was then because IBM had chosen DOS for its PC operating system until that time.
Is this actually morally bad? Unless MS had promised otherwise, isn't it just competition?
Admittedly, the morality of this particular point probably relies on further context. On its face, I suppose you’re correct. However, it’s worth pointing out that for instance the only reason DOS was chosen is because Bill Gates’ Mom was on the IBM board (also because the owners of Digital Research blew it, but that’s a story for another time). Further, IBM had funded Microsoft pretty heavily to help development of the NT kernel with super cushy terms because of the aforementioned relationship with the board. So while, yes, on the one hand you could classify this as competition and it’s a little hard to feel bad for giant corporations, on the other hand this was Bill Gates being a twat and taking advantage of what was essentially a favor. There’s a reason the movie about him and Steve Jobs back in the day was called “Pirates of Silicon Valley“.
I guess people would then make efforts to breach systems elsewhere, but because windows is big it is currently the most targeted.
Yes, but maybe?
I mean, how much ofnthe server market is Linux vs Windows? And Phones.
Limix is literally the most used OS. Maybe not for desktop daily driver use. But it still isn't breeched as much as Windows.
That's true to a point.
Linux is the biggest but the big customers have dedicated teams, have strong enough teams that getting in isn't worth as much effort, and can push fixes upstream.
But most data is on Linux.
Like every cloud for instance.
The comment:
“Can I get a Mac version?”
Cracked me the heck up hahahA
In case anyone else interprets this wrong: he means Proof of Concept code.
Your comment reminded me of this moment I had at an office lunch table:
Someone from sales: I've been having a terrible day, the P-O-C at {client company} is being annoying yadda yadda.....
Someone from HR: glaring, and taking mental notes.
Me, a dev: wondering how things could've gone wrong considering that we hadn't even shipped anything for them.
It took us all a moment to realize that "PoC " meant different things to each of us - Point of Contact, Person of Colour, and Proof of Concept. Somehow the salesperson could've been talking about any of those and it'd make, so none of us questioned ourselves first.
It's even funnier with "point of sale" machines (ie. cash registers and/or payment terminals). We just sent the customer our newest and best POS! 😂👌
Well that's one wide open backdoor. More like a back gate, really.
A facade, even.
Like an old Western set. All front wall, nothing in the back.
Kind of reminds me of this https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20260324-00/?p=112159
Good old.Raymond Chen. He's had some great blog entries
I thought the North Korean OS was hacked, but they named the vuln after it. Not sure why.
Windows and Mac are not safe.
Nothing is
I thought Nothing uses android