Saturday, 26 June 2010

Tavis Ormandy's Full Disclosure: Just the facts ma'am

Everybody has been talking about Tavis Ormandy's disclosure of a Windows Help Centre Vulnerability. There has been very heated debate going around. In some cases the word debate is a little generous. There has been a lot of name calling, mud slinging, and general ad hominem nonesense. People are trashing Tavis, Microsoft, and even Robert Hansen now. It's gotten a little out of hand. What I have noticed is a lack of real substantiated facts in these arguments. To that end, I have made an effort to contact both involved parties, Tavis Ormandy, and the MSRC. I am hoping that they will be willing to respond with some of the facts surrounding this occurrence., and maybe we'll hear a little bit of tempered truth, instead of everyone's emotionally charged bickering. Of course, the chances that either Tavis or the MSRC will be bothered to respond to me are probably not great, here's hoping.

UPDATE: I have heard back from Mr. Ormandy. He was very polite but has stated that he would prefer to let the issue rest than answer anymore questions. Since I am unable to present his side of the argument, even if I were to hear comment back from Microsoft, I would feel it impossible to present an unbiased view here. therefore I shall just let it drop. Perhaps that is really what we all just need to do. If you think he was right, then silently cheer him on, if you think he was wrong admit that maybe he made a mistake, and move on.

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