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Date: | Sat, 24 Aug 2002 01:04:35 +0100 |
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From BBC News, 23rd August.
Patrick Boylan
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MICROSOFT WARNS ABOUT SECURITY HOLES
Millions of people using Microsoft's Office and Internet Explorer
programs are at risk from security holes that could allow malicious
hackers to change files on their computers.
The vulnerable programs include Microsoft Office 2000, Office XP, Money
2002, Money 2003, Project 2002 as well as software used on internet
servers.
The world's leading software maker has advised computer users to close
the critical holes by downloading software patches from its website.
The flaws are the latest headaches for Microsoft, which launched a
"trustworthy computing" campaign earlier this year to improve the
security of all of its software. The security flaws in the software means
an attacker could use e-mail or a webpage to send commands to a user's
computer to view files, run programs, alter data and even reformat the
hard drive.
One of the products affected, Office, is used by around 100 million
people to write documents and crunch numbers and is a major source of
revenue for Microsoft. But the company said it was not aware of any
specific security breaches or the amount of any potential damage that
might have occurred due to these laest flaws.
"Microsoft is committed to keeping customers' information safe," said
Microsoft Security Program Manager Christopher Budd in an e-mail.
Since Microsoft boss Bill Gates launched his company's trustworthy
computing initiative in January, the software giant has issued at least
30 security bulletins for flaws in its software. Earlier this month it
investigated reports that its browser has a loophole that could expose
a computer user's name, passwords and credit card numbers.
Security experts say that Microsoft has become far more open about
warning peopleabout security failings. "They are becoming very good at
telling people when there are problems and that is a good thing," said
Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at anti-virus firm Sophos.
"But one of the really disturbing things is that people don't patch
their software," he said, urging users to download the latest updates
from Microsoft's Windows Update site.
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