Everyone know I am not a fan of the Windows operating system – or more truthfully anything Microsoft – so it’s always exciting to find their mistakes out in the wild. I saw this on a Schiphol bus taking me out to my flight.
Looking more closely, the instance is letting the world know that whatever storage it is using is filled up – and filling up Windows’ C-drive can lead to all sorts of errors!
My belief is that public-facing devices should be as quiet as possible, not providing any indication of underlying technology or problems. First, no one – from the bus driver to the passengers – are able to address the underlying issue: the device and application are likely remotely managed, and that’s where notifications should occur. Second, the device has provided details that could be used by hackers to infiltrate the device and, potentially, work their way into the larger operations of the airport itself.
Perhaps I’m just piling on after the 2024 Crowdstrike fiasco, but it does provide another point of reference on how fragile and insecure Windows really is.
