Windows of mass destruction

For most of this week, prominent Web sites in both South Korea and the United States have been being bombarded by DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks. At times, these assaults have knocked out multiple major sites. North Korea has been taking the blame for these attacks, but no one has any proof yet. What we do know is that the weapon that's doing this damage is compromised Windows PCs.

Tens of thousands of Windows PCs have been taken over by an unknown botnet master. He or she is using an updated version of the ancient MyDoom Windows worm to make the attacks.

Let me put this in context. MyDoom dates from January 2004. It's pre-historic by malware standards.

MyDoom, unlike most malware, such as Conficker was never meant to steal your credit-card numbers and the like. No, MyDoom, from its start as a DDoS attack dog aimed at SCO, was designed to wreck Web sites and, after it had done its work, blast your hard drive into randomized 1s and 0s.

Even today's versions are primitive, brutally simple in its attacks, and, of course, powered by Windows. Without Windows, and its endless security holes, MyDoom couldn't even exist, never mind thrive.

Here we are in 2009, after Windows has been 'fixed' over and over again. We've seen major new revisions, such as XP SP3; an entirely new version, Vista; and, by my count, at least 60 major security patches, and MyDoom is still alive and well and attacking from Windows.

The total cost of these attacks, which have included assaults on the New York Stock Exchange, Treasury Department, Secret Service, and the Federal Trade Commission in the U.S., probably comes into the billions of dollars.

Isn't it clear by now that Windows is the real problem? Yes, the people who write malware, and the programs themselves are the proximate causes for Website mass destruction, but if wasn't for Windows, these attacks wouldn't exist.

Perhaps, when, as is expected, this latest wave of MyDoom bots start destroying their hapless users' hard-drives later today, Windows users might finally get a clue: the only real way to secure their computers is to dump Windows for Linux or buy a Mac. In the meantime, Microsoft would still really, really-to the tune of a $250,000 award really-like to know who wrote MyDoom and Windows will continue to be the Internet's operating system of mass destruciton.