2 ms·
>I can see the argument for disallowing remapping Microsoft domains in the hosts file as a security precaution [0], but this seems a bit heavy handed. This is
by slg 6y ago
>I can see the argument for disallowing remapping Microsoft domains in the hosts file as a security precaution [0], but this seems a bit heavy handed.
This is a crucial point here. I would be curious to see a list of Microsoft sites that you are allowed to redirect in the HOSTS file. Having a more complete list of protected/unprotected domains would give us a better indication if this is an overly aggressive attempt to protect users from legitimate threats or a malicious attempt to protect Microsoft's access to users’ data. Because blocking redirects on microsoft.com certainly seems smart, but blocking redirect of telemetry.remoteapp.windowsazure.com seems suspicious.
- ufmace 6y agoI'm sure there's plenty of hackers, government agencies, etc that would just love to redirect telemetry from specific targets' Windows computers to servers they control. Not to say that it going to Microsoft is necessarily that much better, or that they may have deliberately also sabotaged people trying to redirect it to localhost, but still, it's a thing.
- dividedbyzero 6y agoBut could they? Verifying the host on the other end is the real deal doesn't appear to be too hard. I would be surprised if Microsoft relied solely on plain DNS for that.
- abiogenesis 6y agoThis is what technologies like TLS and certificate pinning are for. Watching the hosts file is only meant to be a nuisance for the end user.
- Causality1 6y agoConsidering how Windows 10 until very recently pitched an absolute fit when the user tried to change the default browser away from Edge, I'm gonna go with the latter.