Microsoft Security Bulletin MS98-010 – Critical (1998)

[jedberg]

Ah yes, Cult of the Dead Cow and Back Orifice.

At the time I worked for the University, and every student had a completely open public IP address. Needless to say a lot of people were getting nailed by this.

We actually built a scanner that would specifically check for this vulnerability, and then automatically shut off your ethernet port until you called us and asked us to help you turn it back on.

Good times.

[fifteen1506]

That program is responsible for me, supposedly a responsible adult now, to chuckle everytime mentions the BackOffice of an app :)

[sebstefan]

What vulnerability?

[stevekemp]

Cult of the dead Cow, L0pht Heavy Industries, so many memories immediately coming back.

Further back we had Phalcon/Skism, and similar. Later on I guess we had the various torrent-releasers with shifting memberships, feuds, and similar.

[chris_wot]

“Windows 95 and Windows 98 offer security features tailored to match consumer computer use. This consumer design center balances security, ease of use, and freedom of choice. The security features in Windows 95 and Windows 98 enable consumers to create a safe computing environment for themselves while preserving their freedom to choose which sites they visit and what software they download. However, neither operating system is designed to be resistant to all forms and intensities of attacks.”

That is some fantastic marketing spin! Microsoft should be somewhat ashamed for writing this.

[isodev]

I think it was refreshingly true. Even today, it’s still the case!

[nikanj]

The name is a play on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_BackOffice_Server

[giomasce]

The logo made the play, if possible, even more explicit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_Orifice.

[underlines]

Back Orifice was nice, but then came Sub7 :D

[midasuni]

I remember back orifice vaguely, wasn’t it something you chose to install - like vnc?

Code red, slammer, iloveyou etc all spread through security bugs, but I don’t think BO did?

[TeMPOraL]

BO spread, in part, through pranksters; back then, people had a sense of humor.

[andrewinardeer]

Your PC is now stoned!

[sirl1on]

Wow. Totally unprofessional when you compare it with today's security bulletin standards. This downplays risks and blames the user. Was this common back then?

[userbinator]

Wow. Apparently, respecting user freedom and personal responsibility is now "unprofessional".

I haven't seen a more blatant exposure/confirmation of the deep-seated authoritarian control-freak mindset that has permeated the whole computing industry.

Yes, back then it was common and expected that users were responsible for their own decisions. Now the industry is taking away that freedom and telling them it's for their own good.

[technion]

Today's version of this would simply be an advertisement for Windows defender and a page of advise about how you sleep easy with an e5 license.

I do agree some types of people would find that "professional " but I won't be one of them ..

[sebstefan]

I think it's alright, what shocks me more is that they published something about it and kept repeating back orifice

Getting backdoored isn't a problem with the OS if you install the backdoor yourself

[tanepiper]

Thanks for the evidence that the internet is just no fun now, too serious. Back in the day people knew how to enjoy themselves.