MICROSOFT WARNING

[tim]

Haven't heard it myself yet, but we've apparently been warned to destroy software associated with Windows 2000 or XP.
A fault allows access to bank accounts etc. = Tim


I'm now told that this applies to downloads and has been known for some time??.??

[Admin aka Dan]

Tim,

I think it's just a warning of a fault which may result in an exploit by a 'hacker'.

If you've got an XP / NT / 2000 machine, and use Microsift Update then your machine will be updated and you need not worry.

My main desktop downloads about 1 fix a week!

Cheers

Dan

[tim]

Sure you're right, Dan - but since it was apparently 'hot news' this am, thought better safe than sorry. = Tim

12/2 - I see in the news today that microsoft knew of this flaw months ago, but only gave news of it when they had a patch for it.

[tim]

Is it possible - reading the last few days' news - that this was, in fact, something quite serious?? = Tim

[Garden Manager]

Yes this is slightly worrying isnt it?

I have XP, and used to get regular updates automaticaly from Microsoft. This has stopped recently. I tried this morning to get an update but could not get into the site in question. Typical!

[busy_lizzie]

I was listening to the News on the Radio, Tim re: the Microsoft Story and seemingly it is more of an embarrassment to Microsoft having someone leak it's secret codes on the internet, giving access to them to their competitors.  However it does give people the capability for hacking into our computers, but not necessarily the no-how, so not sure exactly how risky it is to a general user.  busy_lizzie  

[rdak]

There's actually 2 different stories here.

Firstly, earlier this week Microsoft announced that there is a serious security hole in Windows NT/2000/XP that could allow a hacker to gain access to your PC. They could therefore steal files, plant viruses on your PC, but not gain access to your bank accounts (unless you had stored your bank details and password in ,say, a Word document. You should go to to the Windows Update website regularly and download any fixes.

Secondly, a story emerged today that the some parts of the source code of Windows have been leaked onto the Internet. Although this could possibly help a hacker exploit weaknesses in Windows in the future, this is not really a 'security' story, but is more of an embarassment for Microsoft, as they largely keep Windows code secret so that people who write other operating systems can't see how it all works.