Long comment warning, but I feel like this deserves more than what's been posted so far. Mainly because OP's enthusiasm about Linux makes me happy, I haven't felt that way about computers since high school. Plus there's things to add, clarify and correct. So, first the Crowdstrike bug. This wasn't an issue with Windows as the media suggested and it's also not the fault of a bad Kernel driver as many have suggested. The problem stems from the fact that the Kernel driver in question was specifically designed as a workaround for Windows requiring all Kernel drivers be signed by Microsoft to execute. Typically anything that touches the Kernel has to be sent to Microsoft for testing, validating that it isn't malicious or defective, etc. This makes for a long turnaround time on Microsoft's end, so companies that need rapid updates turn to solutions like this. Their driver was working exactly as intended, the problem is the main point of the driver is to run unsigned code in Kernel space. This isn't a problem on it's own, but it means you have to double-tripple-quadruple check everything before a full public release. Why are Kernel drivers treated so special? Because if you foul up your application, you get crashes and program hangs and vulnerabilities. But when you screw up a Kernel driver, you get a blue screen at best and unrepairable damage to your computer at worst. The main cause of this issue was 100% complacency towards safety measures. This has been a growing issue with modern developers for years; a huge part of software today treat computer resources like candy and system integrity is an afterthought. Anyways, I like Linux and have had a Linux daily driver since ~2012. I want to give my perspective on his points and make a couple of my own. This is more for those unfamiliar with the Linux project and are curious. 1 - Linux does have a lot of really intuitive security features, but the primary reason it's so secure from malware is one single design choice. Nothing on the system is allowed to touch the system without explicit user permission. Like 99% of malware relies on being downloaded in the background and remaining undetected. On Linux, it's either not allowed to execute at all, or completely restricted from reading from/writing to the filesystem without the say-so from the user. This effectively kills any and all stealth the malware has, so most malware devs don't bother targeting Linux. Yeah, it really is that simple. The fact that the user has to click "OK" is enough to halt basically all malware in it's tracks. Combine that with the fact that most Linux users aren't the type to be fooled by dodgy downloads, and it makes a lot of sense as to why Linux is often considered a stronghold. 2 - Linux is a great privacy tool, but remember that you're only as private as you want to be. No amount of privacy-focused software can hide the information you freely give out on a daily basis. Otherwise, great point. 3 - While my experience with getting support from the Linux communities I've been to has been mixed to say the least, it's still really good. I was afraid I'd look like an idiot when I installed a GPU driver and kept going into Kernel panic over and over, but people were overwhelmingly understanding and helpful. Once or twice I've asked questions and gotten silence, but it's not that hard to work out on your own. 4 - Eh, I don't really agree. You don't really find a whole lot of over-the-counter malware for Linux consumers, but Linux servers are definite targets for attacks since Linux dominates the hosting world. 5 - Linux is a lot more customizable than Windows and company, to the point where you can literally just install new desktop software on the fly. However, don't sell modern Windows short in that department. Powershell has made my Windows box into something almost akin to Ubuntu (left-docked taskbar that auto-hides, most of the spyware and bloatware removed, etc). It's amazing how many features Windows has with each release that get ignored because people are usually pissed off about the (admittedly ugly) visual changes. That being said, you brought up Linux in the workplace and I wanted to touch on that since I learned this the hard way. If your computer is at all required for some kind of work or education.. just don't go Linux. Basically every educational and professional center in the country operates on the assumption that you're running Windows or, less often, OSX. Just trust me when I say that it's a compatibility black hole. One of my biggest adventures was figuring out how to get captive portals to work (those annoying sign-in things for hotel wifi and the like). I don't know what it is, but they just refuse to work on Linux. I tried several workarounds, even installing some repos that added additional support for them, but it was still 50/50. It's just not a great solution for anything professional. Not because it lacks capability, but rather that no big names in tech offer much support for it. While things like GIMP are a fantastic alternative to Photoshop, I wish you luck ever finding much professional work with it. Even if you can create stunning works of art with it, customers and other professionals alike *WILL* judge you for not going with the industry standard. Perfect for personal projects, but other people will be your downfall and you'll have to open your wallet back up to Adobe. Is it sad? yeah. Can we do much about it? Nope. The way I've found to enjoy Linux is just to shove on it my old laptops when I replace them. It's nice to have something different to mess with, and they make great media centers to hook up to a TV or keep on your nightstand. You'd be surprised how much life you can breathe into an old computer by shoving a new OS on it. I think I rambled enough. Great video by the OP, hope some of this might help someone as well. Dude needs to work on his scripting and presentation skills, but the enthusiasm is there. Keep it up!
Hi there, thank you for your thoroughness and detail explanation of what has happened at the latest Crowdstrike outage! I hope others find this read as useful as I did. I can almost completely relate to all the points you have mentioned. I’m happy that my video is reaching out to experts and knowledgeable people like you. Just one question, who is OP? I couldn’t figure this abbv out. I hope to see you back in my channel.
shut up. it has happened to crowdstrike in linux as well as in windows. It was the same thing.They used an update in a signed driver. It could happen to *nix also.
This is BS, cloudstrike did the same thing to all Debian distros, complete kill that required reinstall. Only difference is that nobody uses Linux, therefore nobody bothered to report on it. It's a kernel driver issue, it does not matter what OS it is in.
"Nobody uses Linux" Are you being serious? ~90% of the worlds cloud infrastructure runs on Linux. ~70% of servers are Linux based and it's estimated that Linux powers ~80% of the global stock market. (stats from WorldMetrics btw) People. Use. Linux. You don't live in reality. It wasn't a Kernel driver, it was a file their shady ass Kernel driver failed to load because apparently multi-stage testing and rollout updates are a mystery to the tech giant. It somehow got corrupted and caused a NullPointerException when their driver attempted to load it. Because the exception was thrown in Kernel space the computer was forced to BSOD to prevent significant damage to data. Linux and friends were unaffected because it was a Windows-specific build that had the issue, things were business as usual on Linux hosts. Or at least as close to usual as they could've been with the entire financial sector of Australia being shut down for a day. And yes, the OS does matter because every OS has a different Kernel 🤦 The Windows and Linux Kernel literally couldn't be further from each other. The Windows project generally strives for a more robust and all-purpose Kernal whereas Linux has much more of a focus on being modular to fit the needs of any particular distribution since no two systems have the same needs. Take, for example, Microsoft's attempts at bringing a somewhat universal (and extremely watered-down) version of Windows to mobile and tablets in the 2010s. The OS had to have a Kernel capable of running on phones, tablets, desktops, laptops and even the Xbox one almost interchangeably. While they were doing that, Linux was chilling in the background focusing almost exclusively on desktop and server-based distros. The Windows Kernel not only operates completely differently, but it has a much lighter overall footprint than the Linux Kernel. Anyone who's ever used Fedora for an extended period knows the sheer pain of constant 2-300+mb Kernel upgrades like every few days. Long story short, saying the OS doesn't matter because it's a Kernel driver issue isn't only inaccurate, it's just downright wrong 🙃 Not saying either one is better or worse btw, but rather that they very much are different and have totally different design philosophies. The level of misinformation I've seen around this event is insane, so I figured clarification was necessary. Linux was unaffected because the Linux build of Falcon didn't receive any bad files, and that's literally the only thing that saved it.
@@losivart9610 We are clearly talking about desktops. I am not going to read the whole response. Crowdstrike killed Linux the same way they month ago but nobody simply cared because nobody uses it. It's free and nobody wants it. It's garbage.
@@NeuroScientician Yeah, nobody wants it. Beyond the 40+ million desktop installations of Linux, plus however many bootable mediums for distros like Kali and Raspian. Real ghost town when r/Linux literally has 1.3 million unique users. Tell me, if you're not willing to read criticism of your own bad takes, then why spend your time criticizing someone else's video with pure misinformation? Tell you what, if you'd like to learn a bit about the things you're talking about, I have some really great suggestions! Start with "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle. Work your way up form there until reading further than a paragraph is comfortable for you, and then perhaps start reading about the inner workings of Kernels. Zoomer brain rot has destroyed online discussion. Edit: Sorry to OP if this seemed harsh, I don't mean to bring negativity to an otherwise seemingly happy channel (I'm also legit interested in the tutorials for git blogs, I just can't watch rn). But, allowing the type of arrogant misinformation like this to slide was too much for me. I won't flame anymore, hope my posts did legit help someone.
@@losivart9610 1.4 Billion Windows Machines used daily. 22 million Macs Sold every year. So, yes, Linux on desktop is pathetic toy for people that want to look special. Even Kali/Parrot distros mostly run in VM on an Windows machine.
@@NeuroScientician This is my last reply before I disable notifications because I'm not going to argue with someone who very evidently doesn't understand operating systems. This is for the curious among us who might find these since I'd rather not have them walking away with misinformation. People use Linux. That's not a debate. Windows has the market cap on home computers, but understand that they have a long history of playing with their usage statistics. A good example being when they announced that Internet Explorer was the most used browser in the world. Technically correct since it was 100% mandatory to launch IE at least once to download a better browser, but nobody who was online longer than half an hour put up with it's bugginess. So yes, when your operating system is the default on every home PC, you're going to have an astronomical amount of installations when we rely on computers as much as we do. More than half of Windows installations are in a corporate environment and typically serve a single use. But to say that Linux is nothing but a toy is dumb at best and malicious at worst. It powers desktop PCs in the millions and mobile phones in the billions, plus the vast VAST majority of the hosting world. I'd suggest you'd read my long comment I left that wasn't in reply to you, but I don't want you to hurt yourself so I'll summarize: I've used Linux at home daily for more than a decade. I personally don't recommend that people use it if they need to do much in relation to work or education because, in my experience, it's a compatibility nightmare. But if you have an old last-gen laptop, a Linux distro breathes a hell of a lot of life into otherwise antiquated machines. It's extended the life of my old computers by years, not an exaggeration. Some of the biggest channels on RUclips run on Linux. SomeOrdinaryGamers, for example, runs a Arch host with GPU passthrough for virtualization of literally any OS he wants to boot into that day. Louis Rossman has multiple Linux machines he uses from professional work to multimedia centers to avoid the crap Netflix and friends peddle. If all of that isn't enough, my fucking 76 year old grandmother used Linux very briefly before her cancer diagnosis. Was she digging deep into the command line and picking and choosing drivers? No. But she was able to get on her email and read her news stories, which is basically all she did. If a woman who was alive when the typewriter was still relevant was capable of using and accepting of a Mint installation, I think it's safe to say it's a bit more than a silly spectacle. I'm not going to play Linux defender and claim that it's just as robust as other options. There are a fuckton of downsides that come with using Linux on a desktop. But to pretend it's irrelevant in the desktop world is sort of like claiming that oatmeal raisin cookies are completely irrelevant because chocolate chip is more popular. Please do better before spreading misinformation.
👍
Long comment warning, but I feel like this deserves more than what's been posted so far. Mainly because OP's enthusiasm about Linux makes me happy, I haven't felt that way about computers since high school. Plus there's things to add, clarify and correct.
So, first the Crowdstrike bug. This wasn't an issue with Windows as the media suggested and it's also not the fault of a bad Kernel driver as many have suggested. The problem stems from the fact that the Kernel driver in question was specifically designed as a workaround for Windows requiring all Kernel drivers be signed by Microsoft to execute. Typically anything that touches the Kernel has to be sent to Microsoft for testing, validating that it isn't malicious or defective, etc. This makes for a long turnaround time on Microsoft's end, so companies that need rapid updates turn to solutions like this.
Their driver was working exactly as intended, the problem is the main point of the driver is to run unsigned code in Kernel space. This isn't a problem on it's own, but it means you have to double-tripple-quadruple check everything before a full public release. Why are Kernel drivers treated so special? Because if you foul up your application, you get crashes and program hangs and vulnerabilities. But when you screw up a Kernel driver, you get a blue screen at best and unrepairable damage to your computer at worst. The main cause of this issue was 100% complacency towards safety measures. This has been a growing issue with modern developers for years; a huge part of software today treat computer resources like candy and system integrity is an afterthought.
Anyways, I like Linux and have had a Linux daily driver since ~2012. I want to give my perspective on his points and make a couple of my own. This is more for those unfamiliar with the Linux project and are curious.
1 - Linux does have a lot of really intuitive security features, but the primary reason it's so secure from malware is one single design choice. Nothing on the system is allowed to touch the system without explicit user permission. Like 99% of malware relies on being downloaded in the background and remaining undetected. On Linux, it's either not allowed to execute at all, or completely restricted from reading from/writing to the filesystem without the say-so from the user. This effectively kills any and all stealth the malware has, so most malware devs don't bother targeting Linux. Yeah, it really is that simple. The fact that the user has to click "OK" is enough to halt basically all malware in it's tracks. Combine that with the fact that most Linux users aren't the type to be fooled by dodgy downloads, and it makes a lot of sense as to why Linux is often considered a stronghold.
2 - Linux is a great privacy tool, but remember that you're only as private as you want to be. No amount of privacy-focused software can hide the information you freely give out on a daily basis. Otherwise, great point.
3 - While my experience with getting support from the Linux communities I've been to has been mixed to say the least, it's still really good. I was afraid I'd look like an idiot when I installed a GPU driver and kept going into Kernel panic over and over, but people were overwhelmingly understanding and helpful. Once or twice I've asked questions and gotten silence, but it's not that hard to work out on your own.
4 - Eh, I don't really agree. You don't really find a whole lot of over-the-counter malware for Linux consumers, but Linux servers are definite targets for attacks since Linux dominates the hosting world.
5 - Linux is a lot more customizable than Windows and company, to the point where you can literally just install new desktop software on the fly. However, don't sell modern Windows short in that department. Powershell has made my Windows box into something almost akin to Ubuntu (left-docked taskbar that auto-hides, most of the spyware and bloatware removed, etc). It's amazing how many features Windows has with each release that get ignored because people are usually pissed off about the (admittedly ugly) visual changes.
That being said, you brought up Linux in the workplace and I wanted to touch on that since I learned this the hard way. If your computer is at all required for some kind of work or education.. just don't go Linux. Basically every educational and professional center in the country operates on the assumption that you're running Windows or, less often, OSX. Just trust me when I say that it's a compatibility black hole. One of my biggest adventures was figuring out how to get captive portals to work (those annoying sign-in things for hotel wifi and the like). I don't know what it is, but they just refuse to work on Linux. I tried several workarounds, even installing some repos that added additional support for them, but it was still 50/50.
It's just not a great solution for anything professional. Not because it lacks capability, but rather that no big names in tech offer much support for it. While things like GIMP are a fantastic alternative to Photoshop, I wish you luck ever finding much professional work with it. Even if you can create stunning works of art with it, customers and other professionals alike *WILL* judge you for not going with the industry standard. Perfect for personal projects, but other people will be your downfall and you'll have to open your wallet back up to Adobe. Is it sad? yeah. Can we do much about it? Nope.
The way I've found to enjoy Linux is just to shove on it my old laptops when I replace them. It's nice to have something different to mess with, and they make great media centers to hook up to a TV or keep on your nightstand. You'd be surprised how much life you can breathe into an old computer by shoving a new OS on it.
I think I rambled enough. Great video by the OP, hope some of this might help someone as well. Dude needs to work on his scripting and presentation skills, but the enthusiasm is there. Keep it up!
Hi there, thank you for your thoroughness and detail explanation of what has happened at the latest Crowdstrike outage! I hope others find this read as useful as I did. I can almost completely relate to all the points you have mentioned. I’m happy that my video is reaching out to experts and knowledgeable people like you. Just one question, who is OP? I couldn’t figure this abbv out. I hope to see you back in my channel.
@@TheRealCodeVoyage OP = original poster. So you.
❤
crowedstrike fukd up on linux to back in april so the problem is crowedstrike there testing of fixes and updates is none existent
shut up. it has happened to crowdstrike in linux as well as in windows. It was the same thing.They used an update in a signed driver. It could happen to *nix also.
I was rude. Sorry for the shut up. I mean: Its not related to windows. Linux has been there also.
I was not effected by that outage since I'm using Ubuntu. but after you and couple of other comments mentioned it i educated myself on it.
This is BS, cloudstrike did the same thing to all Debian distros, complete kill that required reinstall. Only difference is that nobody uses Linux, therefore nobody bothered to report on it.
It's a kernel driver issue, it does not matter what OS it is in.
"Nobody uses Linux"
Are you being serious? ~90% of the worlds cloud infrastructure runs on Linux. ~70% of servers are Linux based and it's estimated that Linux powers ~80% of the global stock market. (stats from WorldMetrics btw)
People. Use. Linux. You don't live in reality.
It wasn't a Kernel driver, it was a file their shady ass Kernel driver failed to load because apparently multi-stage testing and rollout updates are a mystery to the tech giant. It somehow got corrupted and caused a NullPointerException when their driver attempted to load it. Because the exception was thrown in Kernel space the computer was forced to BSOD to prevent significant damage to data. Linux and friends were unaffected because it was a Windows-specific build that had the issue, things were business as usual on Linux hosts. Or at least as close to usual as they could've been with the entire financial sector of Australia being shut down for a day.
And yes, the OS does matter because every OS has a different Kernel 🤦 The Windows and Linux Kernel literally couldn't be further from each other. The Windows project generally strives for a more robust and all-purpose Kernal whereas Linux has much more of a focus on being modular to fit the needs of any particular distribution since no two systems have the same needs. Take, for example, Microsoft's attempts at bringing a somewhat universal (and extremely watered-down) version of Windows to mobile and tablets in the 2010s. The OS had to have a Kernel capable of running on phones, tablets, desktops, laptops and even the Xbox one almost interchangeably. While they were doing that, Linux was chilling in the background focusing almost exclusively on desktop and server-based distros.
The Windows Kernel not only operates completely differently, but it has a much lighter overall footprint than the Linux Kernel. Anyone who's ever used Fedora for an extended period knows the sheer pain of constant 2-300+mb Kernel upgrades like every few days.
Long story short, saying the OS doesn't matter because it's a Kernel driver issue isn't only inaccurate, it's just downright wrong 🙃
Not saying either one is better or worse btw, but rather that they very much are different and have totally different design philosophies. The level of misinformation I've seen around this event is insane, so I figured clarification was necessary. Linux was unaffected because the Linux build of Falcon didn't receive any bad files, and that's literally the only thing that saved it.
@@losivart9610 We are clearly talking about desktops. I am not going to read the whole response.
Crowdstrike killed Linux the same way they month ago but nobody simply cared because nobody uses it. It's free and nobody wants it. It's garbage.
@@NeuroScientician Yeah, nobody wants it. Beyond the 40+ million desktop installations of Linux, plus however many bootable mediums for distros like Kali and Raspian. Real ghost town when r/Linux literally has 1.3 million unique users.
Tell me, if you're not willing to read criticism of your own bad takes, then why spend your time criticizing someone else's video with pure misinformation?
Tell you what, if you'd like to learn a bit about the things you're talking about, I have some really great suggestions! Start with "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle. Work your way up form there until reading further than a paragraph is comfortable for you, and then perhaps start reading about the inner workings of Kernels.
Zoomer brain rot has destroyed online discussion.
Edit: Sorry to OP if this seemed harsh, I don't mean to bring negativity to an otherwise seemingly happy channel (I'm also legit interested in the tutorials for git blogs, I just can't watch rn). But, allowing the type of arrogant misinformation like this to slide was too much for me. I won't flame anymore, hope my posts did legit help someone.
@@losivart9610 1.4 Billion Windows Machines used daily. 22 million Macs Sold every year.
So, yes, Linux on desktop is pathetic toy for people that want to look special. Even Kali/Parrot distros mostly run in VM on an Windows machine.
@@NeuroScientician This is my last reply before I disable notifications because I'm not going to argue with someone who very evidently doesn't understand operating systems. This is for the curious among us who might find these since I'd rather not have them walking away with misinformation.
People use Linux. That's not a debate. Windows has the market cap on home computers, but understand that they have a long history of playing with their usage statistics. A good example being when they announced that Internet Explorer was the most used browser in the world. Technically correct since it was 100% mandatory to launch IE at least once to download a better browser, but nobody who was online longer than half an hour put up with it's bugginess.
So yes, when your operating system is the default on every home PC, you're going to have an astronomical amount of installations when we rely on computers as much as we do. More than half of Windows installations are in a corporate environment and typically serve a single use. But to say that Linux is nothing but a toy is dumb at best and malicious at worst. It powers desktop PCs in the millions and mobile phones in the billions, plus the vast VAST majority of the hosting world.
I'd suggest you'd read my long comment I left that wasn't in reply to you, but I don't want you to hurt yourself so I'll summarize:
I've used Linux at home daily for more than a decade. I personally don't recommend that people use it if they need to do much in relation to work or education because, in my experience, it's a compatibility nightmare. But if you have an old last-gen laptop, a Linux distro breathes a hell of a lot of life into otherwise antiquated machines. It's extended the life of my old computers by years, not an exaggeration.
Some of the biggest channels on RUclips run on Linux. SomeOrdinaryGamers, for example, runs a Arch host with GPU passthrough for virtualization of literally any OS he wants to boot into that day. Louis Rossman has multiple Linux machines he uses from professional work to multimedia centers to avoid the crap Netflix and friends peddle.
If all of that isn't enough, my fucking 76 year old grandmother used Linux very briefly before her cancer diagnosis. Was she digging deep into the command line and picking and choosing drivers? No. But she was able to get on her email and read her news stories, which is basically all she did. If a woman who was alive when the typewriter was still relevant was capable of using and accepting of a Mint installation, I think it's safe to say it's a bit more than a silly spectacle.
I'm not going to play Linux defender and claim that it's just as robust as other options. There are a fuckton of downsides that come with using Linux on a desktop. But to pretend it's irrelevant in the desktop world is sort of like claiming that oatmeal raisin cookies are completely irrelevant because chocolate chip is more popular.
Please do better before spreading misinformation.