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-= Ö§âmâ ßíñ Këñoßí =-®
Micro$oft software is a national security risk, it is not suitable for
use by government organizations and businesses where a secure environment
is critical. Using Micro$oft software for business is like opening your
backdoor, putting up a "please rob me, I am an idiot" sign and then being
surprised that someone actually did it.
We need to switch to a *nix OS immediately, before any more damage is
done. I suppose we can wait for M$ to fix all the countless holes in its
software too, but how long will that take? How do we know they got all of
them? Most importantly, how much will M$ charge YOU to fix their
mistakes?
Computer virus hits U.S. visa system
No documents being issued worldwide as a result of failure
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The State Department’s electronic system for checking every visa
applicant for terrorist or criminal history failed worldwide late Tuesday
because of a computer virus, leaving the U.S. government unable to issue
visas. The virus crippled the department’s Consular Lookout and Support
System, known as CLASS, which contains more than 12.8 million records
from the FBI, State Department and U.S. immigration, drug-enforcement and
intelligence agencies. Among the names are those of at least 78,000
suspected terrorists.
IN AN INTERNAL MESSAGE sent late Tuesday to embassies and consular
offices worldwide, officials cautioned that “CLASS is down due to a virus
found in the system.” There was no backup system immediately available,
and officials could not predict how long the outage might last.
Such an outage would represent the most serious disruption in
years to U.S. government computers from an Internet infection.
State Department spokeswoman Joanne Moore said the agency
experienced some computer problems but could not confirm the visa-
checking system was affected.
“We did have some computer problems,” she said. “They’re working
on it.”
Every visa applicant is checked against the names in the CLASS
database. The State Department’s automated systems are designed not even
to print a visa until such a check is completed.
It was unclear which computer virus might have affected the
system. But a separate message sent to embassies and consular offices
late Tuesday warned that the “Welchia” virus had been detected in one
facility. Welchia is an aggressive infection unleashed last month that
exploits a software flaw in recent versions of Microsoft Corp.’s Windows
software.
Collectively, Welchia and a related virus, “Blaster,” have
infected hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide, including
computers at the Federal Reserve in Atlanta, Maryland’s motor vehicle
agency and the Minnesota Transportation Department.
The State Department has invested heavily in the CLASS system
since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, more than doubling the number
of names that applicants are checked against. One provision of the
Patriot Act, passed just weeks after the attacks, added FBI records,
including the bureau’s violent gang and terrorist database. The list also
includes the names of at least 20,000 people accused of serious Customs
violations and the names of 78,000 suspected terrorists.
--
use by government organizations and businesses where a secure environment
is critical. Using Micro$oft software for business is like opening your
backdoor, putting up a "please rob me, I am an idiot" sign and then being
surprised that someone actually did it.
We need to switch to a *nix OS immediately, before any more damage is
done. I suppose we can wait for M$ to fix all the countless holes in its
software too, but how long will that take? How do we know they got all of
them? Most importantly, how much will M$ charge YOU to fix their
mistakes?
Computer virus hits U.S. visa system
No documents being issued worldwide as a result of failure
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The State Department’s electronic system for checking every visa
applicant for terrorist or criminal history failed worldwide late Tuesday
because of a computer virus, leaving the U.S. government unable to issue
visas. The virus crippled the department’s Consular Lookout and Support
System, known as CLASS, which contains more than 12.8 million records
from the FBI, State Department and U.S. immigration, drug-enforcement and
intelligence agencies. Among the names are those of at least 78,000
suspected terrorists.
IN AN INTERNAL MESSAGE sent late Tuesday to embassies and consular
offices worldwide, officials cautioned that “CLASS is down due to a virus
found in the system.” There was no backup system immediately available,
and officials could not predict how long the outage might last.
Such an outage would represent the most serious disruption in
years to U.S. government computers from an Internet infection.
State Department spokeswoman Joanne Moore said the agency
experienced some computer problems but could not confirm the visa-
checking system was affected.
“We did have some computer problems,” she said. “They’re working
on it.”
Every visa applicant is checked against the names in the CLASS
database. The State Department’s automated systems are designed not even
to print a visa until such a check is completed.
It was unclear which computer virus might have affected the
system. But a separate message sent to embassies and consular offices
late Tuesday warned that the “Welchia” virus had been detected in one
facility. Welchia is an aggressive infection unleashed last month that
exploits a software flaw in recent versions of Microsoft Corp.’s Windows
software.
Collectively, Welchia and a related virus, “Blaster,” have
infected hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide, including
computers at the Federal Reserve in Atlanta, Maryland’s motor vehicle
agency and the Minnesota Transportation Department.
The State Department has invested heavily in the CLASS system
since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, more than doubling the number
of names that applicants are checked against. One provision of the
Patriot Act, passed just weeks after the attacks, added FBI records,
including the bureau’s violent gang and terrorist database. The list also
includes the names of at least 20,000 people accused of serious Customs
violations and the names of 78,000 suspected terrorists.
--
