I apologize in advance for continuing this off-topic thread.
> > Admittedly, the openness and interrelatedness of Microsoft
> > Office, Outlook, IE, and WSH make it easy to write relatively
> > powerful viruses, the ultimate responsibility for safe computer
> > use, like safe driving and safe sex, lies with the one behind
> > the wheel.
>
> This would be a valid comment if most people were aware of
> the problems that exist hidden in their email client.
>
> They aren't.
>
> How many people do you know who are aware of the WSH, what it
> can do and how to disable it if they want to?
>
> MS knows these features are insecure and they continue to
> ship Outlook with them enabled by default.
>
> How is it then the end users fault when the software does
> something untoward that they are not aware it can do?
I don't expect every end user to understand WSH, or to know what it is.
However, my guess is that nearly every computer user in an office with a
network (and thus, a sysadmin) has heard this before:
"If you get something in your email, and you don't know what it is, DON'T
DOUBLE-CLICK ON IT!"
This doesn't have anything to do with WSH, or Outlook, or Microsoft for that
matter. Malicious executable code may take many forms. A couple of years
ago, virus writers did their work in assembler, because they didn't have
WSH, and you had the same problems with email attachments - you couldn't
double-click them!
I think that, by this time, if you don't know that you can get viruses by
double-clicking on an email attachment, the computer in your cave probably
doesn't have a network connection anyway.
> > How many people have received legitimate messages from
> > someone they know (but aren't already in a relationship
> > with) saying "I love you"? Are we all that desperate for
> > love, that we'll just double-click blindly for it? How
> > many people regularly receive salacious pictures of female
> > tennis stars from their coworkers?
>
> This isn't really the point though. The fact remains that
> some virus writer could put anything in the subject line. The
> choice of subjects and attachment material reflects more on the
> writer of the virus than anything else.
>
> Besides, wasn't there one virus that had a subject line
> similar to "Here is that information you requested"? Hardly
> anything lascivious there.
To answer this, I'll use our office manager as an example. Quinn, I hope you
don't mind. She's not a programmer. She doesn't know how to install much
software, or write web applications. She uses her computer for email,
browsing the web, and using MS Office. Yet, she knows better than to
double-click on attachments that she didn't ask for. Her machine doesn't
even have antivirus software installed right now, but I'm not worried about
her. Why? She has enough common sense to avoid these sorts of problems.
As for what virus writers "could" put in the subject line, the amount of
"social engineering" with most of the latest WSH viruses is laughable. When
I saw the first virus message on the list today, even though the attachment
wasn't there (thanks to Mike D), I knew it was a virus. This isn't rocket
science. You might have a point, if there actually were WSH viruses going
around that looked at all like legitimate mail, but they don't. The quality
of social engineering with WSH viruses is much lower than with assembler
viruses, which were often hidden in a tempting executable or screen-saver.
Finally - and this is all I've got to say - this kind of attitude, in which
you expect the end user to be irresponsible and, frankly, stupid, is the
kind of paternalistic Politburo outlook of people who think that the masses
must be protected from themselves. Being an adult means knowing what happens
- and being responsible for it - when you push the button, or pull the
trigger, or push the accelerator.
Dave Watts, CTO, Fig Leaf Software
http://www.figleaf.com/
voice: (202) 797-5496
fax: (202) 797-5444
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