Microsoft looks into loopholes. (Up front: news, trends & analysis).Microsoft Corp. is investigating claims that some of its flagship programs, including the Internet Explorer Microsoft's Web browser, which comes with Windows starting with Windows 98. Commonly called "IE," versions for Mac and Unix are also available. Internet Explorer is the most widely used Web browser on the market. It has also been the browser engine in AOL's Internet access software. Web browser The program that serves as your front end to the Web on the Internet. In order to view a site, you type its address (URL) into the browser's Location field; for example, www.computerlanguage.com, and the home page of that site is downloaded to you. and Microsoft Office Microsoft's primary desktop applications for Windows and Mac. Depending on the package, it includes some combination of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access and Outlook along with various Internet and other utilities. productivity suite, have a loophole An omission or Ambiguity in a legal document that allows the intent of the document to be evaded. Loopholes come into being through the passage of statutes, the enactment of regulations, the drafting of contracts or the decisions of courts. that could crash users' systems and allow attackers to read users' online files. Attackers taking advantage of the loophole could trick computer users into thinking they are visiting legitimate Web sites and convince them to divulge personal information. Internet Explorer versions 5.0, 5.5, and 6.0 may have loopholes in handling Web sites' digital certificates, such as those from VeriSign, which verify Web sites as being legitimate and also include unique code for encrypting information. Essentially, any Web site operator with a valid certificate could pretend to be any other Web site operator. Attackers could hijack computer users over a company's internal network as users visit e-commerce sites and intercept their information. Or they could send hijacked users to dummy Sham; make-believe; pretended; imitation. Person who serves in place of another, or who serves until the proper person is named or available to take his place (e.g., dummy corporate directors; dummy owners of real estate). Web sites and get users to provide their private information. Microsoft said it's too soon to judge whether a flaw exists and, if so, how severe it is, but such a problem has the potential to compromise more than 100 million Microsoft software users' names, passwords, and credit card numbers. The problem can be fixed by downloading a software patch from www.microsoft.com/technet. The company issued a bulletin advising customers to install the patch immediately. |
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