vista x64 and enforcement of signed drivers

just wanted to clear up a common misconception here, after i (again) had a lot of discussions with different people about that topic yesterday:

as you might have heared, in the 64 bit version of windows vista only signed kernel modules are allowed, which of course affects also device drivers.

first:
yes i think this is a great thing. and yes: i wish that would have been enforced in x86 as well, but i understand that this would break so much hardware compatibility that this wouldn’t be accepted by customers.
since x64 drivers have to be developed new anyway, it’s a good chance to start new… this time WITH security in mind.

second:
a common misunderstanding on that topic seems to be that Microsoft has to sign the drivers. which often leads to a lot of ranting like "this will cost a shitload of money" or "Microsoft tries to get rid of open source device developers with that".

just to clarify:
the driver has NOT to be signed by microsoft. it has to be signed by whichever trusted certificate authority on that system!
so OEMs/driver developer can even self-sign their drivers if they deliver the valid CA certificate with them.
go out, spread the word… 😉

this leads now to part three:
yes, this also opens the chance for self-signed rootkits… but that’s a different topic i might cover in a later, bigger post after my vacation 🙂

google hacking again…

… but with a completely new approach.

i stumbled over the bugle project, an interesting approach of doing security auditing by using google.
of course only the use of google is not the new & fancy thing…. there are a lot of examples of "google hacks".
the interesting idea is to use google’s "filetype:" search attribute to discover possible security holes in random sourcecode all over the net.

cool idea… though more likely used by script-kiddies than by security professionals.

leaving to the US

… for the next 4 weeks.

first a week in seattle for the "techready" conference in downtown seattle.
i’ll stay in the "westin seattle" if anybody wants to visit me 😉

after that i’ll spend 3 weeks together with michi on the westcoast.
just cruising, sightseeing, relaxing, eating… 🙂
so… see you all in 4 weeks again!

btw:
last weekend there was a great birthday party of my collegue patrick in an old castle.

blackwhite_party.jpg

lots of drinks, music and great party-people… it was really cool 🙂