Journal: News & Comment

What the hell is a buffer overflow error?

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If you've been kicking around the computer world for awhile, you've heard about buffer overflow errors. Like me, you might understand only vaguely (if at all) what they are, and wonder why so many viruses, bugs, and other problems seem to originate with buffer overflows (a.k.a. buffer overruns).

Steve Gibson of GRC.com finally explains it clearly for non-technical users (as well as us technical users who aren't programmers) in this week's Security Now! #39 podcast with Leo Laporte. There's a full transcript as well as an MP3 file you can listen to. I highly recommend it so that you can gain a better concept of what these pernicious programming errors are.

Not that it helps you fix them, mind you. But knowledge is good, right?

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