“The brand spanking-new Windows operating system called Vista – billed as ‘the most secure version of Windows yet’ on the Microsoft Web site – has proven a pushover for Internet hackers,” The New York Daily News reports.
“Microsoft has acknowledged Vista has a flaw that could allow users to increase their access level to administrator, a problem first posted by a Russian hacker,” The Daily News reports.
“A flaw was also found in Microsoft’s new Internet Explorer 7 that could download viruses from a booby-trapped Web page. That flaw and five others were reported by Determina, a Silicon Valley computer security company,” The Daily News reports.
“News of the IE7 flaw and the hacker postings is a black eye for Bill Gates and Microsoft – and for the thousands of PC makers who will begin selling their computers next month with Vista,” The Daily News reports. “Vista’s big selling points, besides it supposed safety and security, are its stunning 3D graphics that many critics argue is simply an attempt – and a bad one at that – to match what Apple has had for years on the Macintosh.”
Full article here.
John Markoff reports for The New York Times, “Microsoft is facing an early crisis of confidence in the quality of its Windows Vista operating system as computer security researchers and hackers have begun to find potentially serious flaws in the system that was released to corporate customers late last month.”
Markoff reports, “On Dec. 15, a Russian programmer posted a description of a flaw that makes it possible to increase a person’s privileges on all of the company’s recent operating systems, including Vista.”
“Over the weekend a Silicon Valley computer security firm said it had notified Microsoft that it had also found that flaw, as well as five other vulnerabilities, including one serious error in the software code underlying the company’s new Internet Explorer 7 browser,” Markoff reports. “The browser flaw is particularly troubling because it potentially means that Web users can become infected with malicious software simply by visiting a booby-trapped site. That would make it possible for an attacker to inject rogue software into the Vista-based computer…”
Full article here.