Sometimes, we come across news like Windows had a security hole and it was patched. What is a security hole?

Question

How do they happen? It would be better if you could provide an example.

Thank You

Answer 1

Ok, you want an example. Here is one: The Anonymous guest account is enabled by default. That means a hacker can log in to the guest account, do his dirty work and be gone. Would you want anyone in the whole world to have access to your computer without even telling you their name? I don't! Oh, THAT security hole can be patched rather easily by disabling the guest account, however there are hundreds more in their place, as Windows XP, for example has dozens and dozens of "updates" which are really bug fixes or security patches. Since their are so many security holes in Windows, many computer professionals have dropped Windows all together and use open source software instead such as Kubuntu at www.kubuntu.org.

Answer 2

2

Answer 3

it's a flaw that the programmar missed when he created or programmed. Here's an example: few months back, there was a security hole /flaw with Windows Media Player, an attacker could lure people to play that file in WMP, and that file is happened to be a virus, could take over control of that person's computer from distance. Windows had a patch for it already, so you should be okay. A patch is an updated file that need to be downloaded to fix up that flaw/security hole. Think about a patch on your shirt or jeans, works the same way :)

Answer 4

Windows is an operating system that was built by people writing millions of line of code to do what they want it to do. Most of the times, cough cough Microsoft cough cough, doesn't really finish their products before they let them out. This results in security holes, as the programmers don't want to go through each line of code to find a flaw in the coding. It's kind of like if you sign a contract, you have to have a lawyer look at it before you do anything with it because it may be worded a certain way to where the people who you are dealing with can go "around" the wording of the contract to get what they want. It's the same thing with security holes. Hackers find them and they use them to get information and mess up people's lives. The way I heard that Microsoft finds it's holes is by letting the hackers find the holes for them. After they find them, they write a patch to cover up that hole. Service Pack 2 for Windows XP helped cover up a lot of security issues.

Answer 5

It's a weakness in a system allowing an attacker to violate the confidentiality, integrity, availability, access control, consistency or audit mechanisms of the system or the data and applications it hosts.
Meaning that when they make a software, it can have certain bugs, that may allow hackers or viruses to come into your system, so they make some fixes for this vulnerabilities.

Answer 6

it is a way for hackers to get to your computer