full-disclosure - Microsoft to enable XP firewall by default

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Message-ID: <001201c364e4$cdaffdd0$550ffea9@rms>
From: rms at computerbytesman.com (Richard M. Smith)
Subject: Microsoft to enable XP firewall by default

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/14/technology/14WORM.html

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 13 - Microsoft acknowledged today that it planned to
change the way it distributes its flagship Windows XP operating system
software, in response to a malicious software "worm" that has spread
over the Internet in recent days attacking tens of thousands of personal
computers by exploiting vulnerabilities in Windows. 

Dissemination of the worm slowed today as network administrators and
individual computer users around the world took steps to protect their
machines, even as Microsoft's critics stepped up their complaints that
the company's software, which dominants the industry, puts its customers
at risk of such outbreaks. 

In at least a partial answer to its critics, Microsoft said that it
would begin shipping the consumer and business versions of Windows XP
with the protective network firewall completely activated, to make PC's
less vulnerable to attacks. 
As part of its so-called .Net strategy, the company has been selling
Windows XP with the firewall only partially enabled, to make it easier
for users to play games online and make use of various automated Web
services - like programs that make it easier for consumers to link the
information in their credit-card accounts to their checking accounts
online, for example. But critics have long said that such capabilities,
which can make PC's more open to network attacks, should be chosen by
the user, instead of being an automatic feature of the software.

....