Windows Update and Spambots

On the heels of recent warnings about botnets and news of denial of service attacks on DNS servers that seem to be part of an attempt to bring the internet down, Microsoft has a large security update for Windows -- for Vista and below. Part of the vulnerability is in the Windows security model itself and the way it parses PDF files.

Exploits often follow news of security holes according to the latest Security Now podcast, which explains how spambots work, why spammers need them, how to understand mail headers, and fixes.

This reminds me again of E.M. Forster's "only connect" warning in "The Machine Stops" and of the ecological thinking of Amory Lovins on resilience and complex systems that was buried by the Reagan administration. If there was an major oil supply disruption I wonder if the response would be similar to Katrina/New Orleans.

The rainbow bridge
collapses during the
destruction of Ragnarök.