It seems a huge amount of Windows software has been leaked, from an internal source. 32 terabytes of data, including, but not limited to beta copies of Windows 10, developer software, and potentially the most important of them all-- source code. UK news site, The Register, were the ones to initially break the story, claiming that these confidential testing builds and other data came from a source inside Microsoft, back in March 2017. The files were then uploaded on June 19, to Beta Archive, though they were removed shortly after. With the "shared source code kit" being available to the public, this means that users may be able to better customize Windows to their liking, but it also comes with the fact that this leaves users' security vulnerable and compromised, if one manages to use the source code to create a dangerous virus or exploit. The source below contains more intricate details on the matter.

The leaked code is Microsoft's Shared Source Kit: according to people who have seen its contents, it includes the source to the base Windows 10 hardware drivers plus Redmond's PnP code, its USB and Wi-Fi stacks, its storage drivers, and ARM-specific OneCore kernel code.

Anyone who has this information can scour it for security vulnerabilities, which could be exploited to hack Windows systems worldwide. The code runs at the heart of the operating system, at some of its most trusted levels.

This software includes, for example, prerelease Windows 10 "Redstone" builds and unreleased 64-bit ARM flavors of Windows. There are, we think, too many versions now dumped online for Microsoft to revoke via its Secure Boot mechanism, meaning the tech giant can't use its firmware security mechanisms to prevent people booting the prerelease operating systems.

EDIT: response from a Beta Archive admin

First of all let us clear up a few facts. The “Shared Source Kit” folder did exist on the FTP until this article came to light. We have removed it from our FTP and listings pending further review just in case we missed something in our initial release. We currently have no plans to restore it until a full review of its contents is carried out and it is deemed acceptable under our rules.

The folder itself was 1.2GB in size, contained 12 releases each being 100MB. This is far from the claimed “32TB” as stated in The Register’s article, and cannot possibly cover “core source code” as it would be simply too small, not to mention it is against our rules to store such data.

At this time all we can deduct is that The Register refers to the large Windows 10 release we had on March 24th which included a lot of Windows releases provided to us, sourced from various forum members, Windows Insider members, and Microsoft Connect members. All of these we deemed safe for release to BetaArchive as they are all beta releases and defunct builds superseded by newer ones, and they were covered under our rules.

If any of this should change we will remove these builds from the FTP and we will happily comply with any instructions to do so by Microsoft.

Source

 

[Ev1l0rd]

Being open source does not inherently mean that a project is free (as in freedom.)

Correct. But in this case, the two terms don't really matter. The code is still proprietary despite being leaked. We cannot use the code in any form without getting our asses sued (hence why I don't investigate the leak beyond the news source).

 

[BlastedGuy9905]

MS won't, but they can still take it down. To do such a thing you need to get the source code, which needs to be distributed somewhere, which means someone is getting their ass sued for hosting and distributing proprietary code.

Oh wait. I just realized that lol. I thought the source code got leaked so hard someone posted it on some file sharing website or something.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Oh wait. I just realized that lol. I thought the source code got leaked so hard someone posted it on some file sharing website or something.

No, the original news report claims this, but the site that the "32TB of source code" was supposedly uploaded to released a statement saying that no, 1.2GB of shared source code which means nearly nothing was uploaded. The "32TB" that the original news source reported on was just public beta builds some users uploaded a month or so ago, nothing more and nothing important. You can read the statement in the OP, if you wish.

 

[BlastedGuy9905]

No, the original news report claims this, but the site that the "32TB of source code" was supposedly uploaded to released a statement saying that no, 1.2GB of shared source code which means nearly nothing was uploaded. The "32TB" that the original news source reported on was just public beta builds some users uploaded a month or so ago, nothing more and nothing important. You can read the statement in the OP, if you wish.

My first reply was a joke, seems like noone understood it. *sigh*

 

[MionissNio]

Total noob.

Haha, yeah you are right I do not know how to program and nor does the average user need to.
Remember why Majority of market share is windows, because it is cheap and accessible to everyone, even when a team of 10 can make a better OS than it. Due to high adaption and market share more apps are being made this making windows a necessity.
Also windows idk why doesn't have strict control on quality unlike Apple but it also attracts developers as anyone can sell or distribute anything without Question.

This is where mobile computing will is filling the gap, last gen's the arm Based iPad pro wasn't a good option against surface, this gen it beats crap out of the Surface, especially with affinity photo, and it won't be a matter of time once the transition begins for mobile to get full professional desktop apps, heck even Windows is coming to arm. Android can pretty much do anything for me, it is the best Linux distro imo, sure it is a little unoptimized and also lacks Apple quality monitoring but things are getting better. Unfortunately Google will kill in favour of their Fuschia os, which is going to fail due to lack of apps.

Soon your top of the line gaming device would most likely be a Dockable smart device just like the switch.

 

[Ev1l0rd]

Also windows idk why doesn't have strict control on quality unlike Apple but it also attracts developers as anyone can sell or distribute anything without Question.

It's due to the fact that they never started with it. Apple, when they introduced the App Store on iOS, it was the ONLY place you could get applications. This was later semi-adopted to OS X (you can override it), but as far as I am aware, the only consistent thing for Apple applications is that they use XCode as a dev environment.

Saying that mobile computing will ever become something serious... well, I think it might work, if it weren't for the fact that the shady devs of the world (cash-grabbers) have already skewered the app market so much with shovelware that you might as well not even bother. Very few people are willing to sift through the Mount Everest of shit apps on the App Store, the Shiteverest, so they stick to the top charts, meaning that very few iOS devs will ever get any sort of popularity.

And that is not even discussing the state of Android, which is the iOS problem, but then multiplied by advertisements, tracking software and even less control + the Windows problem of not necessarily demanding a central package location.

The reason Linux doesn't have such a 'shady software' problem is primarily because you are updating from a small list of TRUSTED sources. Yes, you can compile from source and download stuff from the webs, but don't just install something without thoroughly checking whether it's trustworthy or not. And because the general tech expertise for linux users is already a little bit higher than most, meaning that they don't necessarily build with brown bricks and get free iPads.

 

[Sonansune]

32 terabytes??????

 

[Dr.Hacknik]

Well, doesn't seem like that big of a deal. But, Microsoft needs to step up their security big time. They're leaking more than Nintendo or Sony.

 

[Gamer4647]

32 terabytes??????

The actual source code was only worth 1.2GB of that. The rest were just several beta builds of Windows from months ago that were made available to public users who had opted for Windows Insider to trial features and bug fixes, that the news site just assumed included source code when they clearly didn't. Like you can really download and upload 32TB really fast without getting caught. It's pretty stupid that they didn't do much research.

And please, to everyone, read the update in the main post.

 

[mariogamer]

I dreamed for it and it happebned! Time to hack it

 

[TeamScriptKiddies]

I actually am worried about my PC now . Lets hope this doesn't lead to everyone being compromised

You could always dual boot with linux. Any virus or exploit written for windows wouldnt be compatible with linux, so it wouldnt affect that partition.

Just do all your banking, shopping etc stuff on the linux side and only boot into windows for games and less risky stuff. Best of both worlds

 

[InquisitionImplied]

Nice meme. Can't this site hold off on news stories?

 

[Luglige]

Nice meme. Can't this site hold off on news stories?

No.

 

[Reyn_the_Insane]

What scares me is, I had a dream last night where I got a virus I couldn't get rid of. Could the end be near?

 

[Deleted User]

What scares me is, I had a dream last night where I got a virus I couldn't get rid of. Could the end be near?

I got the same dream a week ago.
Hm...

 

[amoulton]

If Windows was open source from the start this wouldn't be a big deal :^)

But would they still be able to sell the government all it's user's data if the source code was known?

 

[mariogamer]

But would they still be able to sell the government all it's user's data if the source code was known?

Not sure

 

[Deleted User]

Fake news

 

[Reyn_the_Insane]

I got the same dream a week ago.
Hm...

NOOOOAPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE

 

[jimmyleen]

Damn that's bigger than my porn stash!

Honestly, I'm not surprised anymore with Windows and its shitty security.

I agree but Mac and Linux have even worse security.