Existing malware could affect Vista users
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft has touted Vista as aÂ more secure version of Windows, but on the day ofÂ Vista's official launch, a security company has identified malware already in circulation that can infect computers running the OS. Sophos identified three viruses typically spread through e-mail that can infect Vista customers who use a third party Web e-mail client. While Vista's e-mail client stops Stratio-Zip, Netsky-D, and MyDoom-O, the malware slips past Vista's defenses when users receive infected messages through a Web-based e-mail service, Sophos said. Stratio-Zip topped Sophos' list of malware affecting computer users in the month of November, accounting for 33.3 percent of malware in circulation. Combined, the three viruses that can affect Vista users make up 39.7 percent of all malware in circulation during the month, Sophos said. However, even if the malware Sophos identified slips through in an e-mail, customers won't necessarily be affected, another researcher said. Additional Vista security mechanisms should protect users, said Mikko HyppÃ¶nen, chief research officer at F-Secure. If a customer opens an infected malware file, Vista would warn and question the user before allowing the malware to wreak havoc. "These particular examples of malware probably wouldn't still be able to successfully infect the machine unless the user specifically allows it," he wrote in an e-mail exchange. Sophos applauded the security improvements in Vista, saying that the variety of popular third party applications used by consumers inevitably will open doors to hackers. Other anti-virus companies haven't been so kind.Â McAfee has been highly criticalÂ of changes in the operating system that it says will make Vista less secure than previous versions of Windows. Symantec said itÂ has discovered vulnerabilitiesÂ in Vista's networking software which makes it less stable than Windows XP. Sophos found that overall, the proportion of infected e-mail remained low in November at 0.28 percent, but identified a record number of new threats, 7,612, during the month.
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Ben Fathi, now the chief of development in the Windows core operating system group, would like Vista to have half the first-year security flaws of its predecessor, XP. Security analysts offer their thoughts.
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Because Internet Explorer is one of the programs vulnerable to a newly discovered Windows image flaw, it is possible that someone could fall victim to a virus written to exploit it just by visiting a Web site that uses JPEG images.
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Unpatched Windows machines are vulnerable to latest adware attack
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A critical weakness found in many Microsoft programs looks like it is about to be exploited by virus writers. The bug only came to light last week, but code is now circulating that could be used to attack vulnerable machines.
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With viruses, worms, spyware, spam and phishing, running a computer this year -- especially one with Windows -- has often been a colossal headache. -Rob Pegoraro
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SEATTLE/SAN FRANCISCO  - Computer hackers are off  and running trying to find vulnerabilities in Microsoft Corp.'s  new Windows Vista operating system, putting to test the  software maker's claim that it is the most secure Windows  program ever.
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Windows Vista is causing problems for those trying to hook up a PC to a broadband net connection.
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Unpatched vulnerabilities may leave computers open to remote attacks.
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A feature dating back to the Internet's HTML 3.0 era is causing problems for Internet Explorer 7, forcing Microsoft to issue an update for Windows Vista just one day after its public launch. Web sites using frames causes IE7's phishing filter to evaluate the page multiple times, leading to high CPU usage.
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Program isn't entirely benevolent: it also downloads files to infected PCs.
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Millions of computer users are at risk of attack because flaws in the way Windows handles some images.
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A false positive in company's antivirus products leads to quarantine or deletion of some Windows users' copies of explorer.exe.
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'Secure Development Lifecycle' only goes so far Microsoft on Tuesday issued two security updates, one of them rated critical that fixes nasty bugs in Windows Vista that could allow an attacker to gain complete control over a user's machine.â¦
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A problem with Microsoft's controversial Windows Genuine Advantage authorization process may start to cripple Vista machines in as little as three days if the system, which has taken to identifying legit copies of both Vista and XP as pirated, isn't fixed pronto.
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New security software supplements antivirus protection by scanning systems for &#39;bot&#39; malware that can take over unprotected PCs.
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(Source: Messagelabs)  What are the security risks involved in migrating to Microsoft Vista? This white paper examines the implications in terms of messaging and web security which IT managers urgently need to consider.