[AI] Microsoft warns of software flaws in Word, Windows
- From: vishnu ramchandani <vishnuhappy@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: accessindia@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2005 05:29:31 -0700 (PDT)
Microsoft warns of software flaws in Word, Windows
Has issued patches to fix the flaws, which could allow
attackers to take over a computer system.
SEATTLE: Microsoft Corp. warned users on Tuesday of
three new security flaws in its Windows and Word
software and issued patches to fix the flaws, which
could allow attackers to take over a computer system.
All three of the "critical"-rated security patches
could potentially allow an attacker to take control of
a personal computer and use it to steal data or
launch other attacks, said Stephen Toulouse, a manager
at Microsoft's Security Response Center.
"The key thing is really that we want to make people
understand the risk with these flaws and that they
enable automatic updates," said Toulouse, referring
to a feature in Windows that downloads and installs
the software patches automatically.
Two of the flaws are related to imaging technology
used by Windows, which could potentially allow an
attacker to take control of a system simply by having
the user view a digital image that contains software
code that exploits the flaw, which could be installed
on a computer without the user's knowledge.
"Simply by viewing one of these malicious images you
can become infected with anything from adware and
spyware to any other suspicious code," said Oliver
Friedrichs, senior manager at Symantec Corp.'s
Security Response Center.
"We've really seen a proliferation of Web sites that
exploit these types of software flaws," said
Friedrichs, who recommended users install the patches
from Microsoft and keep their anti-virus and security
software up-to-date.
The Word flaw, which affects various versions of the
word-processing program released in 2000 and 2004,
could let an attacker take over a personal computer
if a user opens a document file containing software
code designed to exploit the flaw.
Microsoft issued the patches as part of its monthly
security bulletin, which it adopted in 2003 to make it
easier for users and computer system administrators
to install patches and keep track of vulnerabilities
in Microsoft's software.
Users can also download the patches to fix the
software flaws at www.microsoft.com/security.
Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, has been
working for
the last three years to improve the security and
reliability of its software under its Trustworthy
Computing initiative, as more and more malicious
software
targets weaknesses in Windows and other Microsoft
software.
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