Microsoft: Flaw could lead to worm attack
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InfoWorld - Microsoft has fixed a critical flaw in the Windows operating system that could be used by criminals to create a self-copying computer worm attack.
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Researchers' suggestions of using wormlike software to distribute patches draws security concerns.
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The new flaw is unrelated to the help-file flaws discovered by a Chinese security company last week. Microsoft took the Chinese security group to task for disclosing the vulnerability without giving the company a chance to develop a fix.
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Timing of viruses that exploit a flaw in IE could be sign that creators are trying to unsettle Microsoft.
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A hacker has released attack code that could be used to exploit a critical bug in some versions of the Windows operating system.
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Microsoft is moving to counter some scathing comments regarding a security paper authored by researchers at its Cambridge, England, facility.The paper, &quot;Sampling Strategies for Epidemic-Style Information Dissemination,&quot; looks at how worms sometimes inefficiently spread their code.The research explores how a more efficient method could, for example, be used for distributing patches or other software. The advantage would be that patches could be distributed from PC to PC, rather than from a central server.That method would reduce the load on a server, and patches would be distributed faster. But the patches would have the same qualities as a computer worm, a generally malicious file.Since a story about the paper appeared on Thursday in the New Scientist magazine, the paper has been roundly assailed.&quot;This is a stupid idea,&quot; wrote Bruce Schneier, a security expert, author and CTO of Mountain View, Calif.-based enterprise security vendor BT Counterpane, on Tuesday, before quoting a passage from the New Scientist story on his blog.Schneier wrote that the idea of so-called &quot;benevolent worms&quot; comes up every few years.However, a worm is designed to run without the consent of a user, which doesn&#39;t make it a good method of software distribution, Schneier wrote. The worm patching technique could also make the patches hard to uninstall or interrupt during installation, he wrote.Worms designed to distribute software patches could also be hacked to distribute malicious software, wrote Randy Abrams, director of education for security vendor Eset, in his regular e-mail commentary.Forced patching is also troublesome since some patches may not be compatible with critical software, Abrams wrote.&quot;Breaking into computers is a bad idea,&quot; Abrams said.A Microsoft spokesman said on Monday that the New Scientist story is not inaccurate. However, the writer of the story &quot;sexed&quot; up the research paper a bit, particularly with the headline that used the phrase &quot;friendly worms,&quot; the spokesman said.In response to the criticism, Microsoft said it doesn&#39;t intend to develop patch worms.&quot;This was not the primary scenario targeted for this research,&quot; according to a statement.The company also said it will continue to let customers decide how and when they apply security updates.One of the paper&#39;s authors, Milan Vojnovic, said in a statement that there were no plans to incorporate the ideas into Microsoft&#39;s products. Efforts to reach Vojnovic for comment were unsuccessful.
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InfoWorld - Security experts have spotted the first attempts to create an Internet worm that propagates using instant messages and exploits a recently disclosed flaw in Microsoft software.
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According to the security company, the flaws mean that &quot;attackers can silently and remotely take over an SP2 machine when the user simply browses a web page&quot;.
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Code could be used to crash PCs and ultimately commandeer them, security firms warn. But Microsoft hasn't confirmed the third Word flaw in two weeks.
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A critical flaw in Microsoft&#39;s Internet Explorer Web browser could allow a hacker to take control of a computer, the world&#39;s largest software maker said Wednesday.
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A new variant of the MyDoom worm that exploits an unpatched flaw in Microsoftâs Internet Explorer browser has emerged to threaten small business and home users in particular, security experts warned this week.
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The emergence of a new Internet virus targeting a Microsoft Windows security flaw could cause more damage than usual because the company&#39;s system for fixing the problem is so complex that many
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A critical flaw in the way that the AIM client displays Web-based graphics could be exploited by criminals to create a self-copying worm attack, experts warn.
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Microsoft Corp. is investigating a reported vulnerability in its ASP.Net that could allow an attacker to bypass security features on a Web server and view sensitive content, the company said Thursday.
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Trojan horse that exploits flaw in how Windows handles JPEG images may be low risk, but it's a bad omen.
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"Limited attacks" are exploiting a previously unknown security bug in Microsoft Word, Microsoft warns.
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Virus writers and hackers may be able to sidestep Microsoft's big fix.