OT: Vista's "ultimate" security :)

[Bill Campbell]

On Tue, Feb 06, 2007, Kenneth Brody wrote:
>Quoting Bob Rasmussen (Tue, 6 Feb 2007 07:22:30 -0800 (PST)):
>[...]
>> Thanks for this amusing (and amazing) eye-opener. A couple of minor
>> points:
>>
>> 1. Although Vista has just been released to retail, it has been
>> available to developers for many months.
>
>And beta copies for a lot longer.
>
>[...]
>> 2. I believe a software patch could prevent this, while still allowing
>> voice control. Such patch could operate similar to an anti-feedback
>> check, by preventing acceptance of audio that was currently being
>> output.
>
>Of course, if your cube-mate's computer says something that is picked
>up by your computer...
>
>> 3. Most voice recognition programs have to be trained. It is unlikely
>> that a random voice command would be understood (although a low success
>> rate for a virus does not necessarily kill it).
>
>In a low-vocabulary setting, no training is ncessary.  Note the
>voice recognition in automated phone systems.  I don't know how
>much training is needed for Windows.
>
>> Still, it's interesting.
>
>"start. run. format. c. colon. space. why."

The way I heard it, somebody was demonstrating voice recognition at a show
when somebody yelled ``format c colon enter why enter'' and it worked well.

I think OS X has had voice recognition for years, but I've never mucked
with it.  I'm not sure how one would use it to attack the system easily
though as (a) everything runs with reduced priviledges, and (b) getting to
a command line to do things isn't all that common (unless you're a *nix
geek like me of course :-).

Bill
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