undefined | Better HN

0 pointsFreakLegion6y ago0 comments

every distribution mechanism I can think of signs the entire distributable, so you really can't just modify the ASAR without breaking the signature. Windows & macOS both require you to only install from signed application bundles/installers (or at least they make it very difficult for you to use unsigned software)

Only drivers have to be signed on Windows, and even then not all kinds until Windows 8. Also many apps, including Visual Studio Code, are available in 'run from USB' form, so there's no installer, just an archive you unpack and run. Those archives can be modified and redistributed without invalidating any of the PE signatures within, but since nobody pays attention to these signatures anyway and Windows doesn't enforce them, yeah, this is typical Black Hat-week PR nonsense.

0 comments

dvt6y ago

> Only drivers have to be signed on Windows

This is half-true.

Windows and macOS both make it difficult to install self-signed (or unsigned) software. For example, I made http://www.lofi.rocks (an open source Electron-based music player) and I'm not going to spend like a few hundred bucks a year to have a non-self-signed cert. This makes both macOS and Windows complain when users install the app. More draconian practices (that "protect users from themselves") will make it even harder for independent open source devs like me to share cool projects with a wide audience.

voltagex_6y ago

https://www.certum.eu/en/cert_offer_en_open_source_cs/ free - although you have to submit a worrying amount of personal identification.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse