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Microsoft `humbled` by security woes, co to improve programmes
Santa Clara (California), Sept 16: Microsoft Corp chief executive Steve Ballmer said that the company will make any necessary improvements in its software to try to thwart viruses and other attacks that have recently hobbled computers around the world.
Santa Clara (California), Sept 16: Microsoft Corp chief executive Steve Ballmer said that the company will make any necessary improvements in its software to try to thwart viruses and other attacks that have recently hobbled computers around the world.
"We are in many ways humbled by the developments of the last few weeks," Ballmer said yesterday in a speech at the Churchill Club, a Silicon Valley business networking group. "Windows (operating system) is the most popular platform in the world, so every security incident with it is just magnified and magnified and magnified across so many more systems than with any other platform." The blaster, or Lovsan, worm, exploited a flaw in nearly all versions of Microsoft's windows operating system. The worm infected hundreds of thousands of computers around the world. Just last week, Microsoft disclosed new flaws, almost identical to that exploited by the blaster worm, in Windows.
Despite the January 2002 launch of Microsoft's "trustworthy computing" initiative, the company must still do more to fight security threats, Ballmer said.
Besides trying to write more secure code, Microsoft is investing in "shield technology" to block viruses from even reaching personal computers, Ballmer said. For example, users of Windows XP have an Internet connection firewall that can be activated.
"We know that the bad guys are going to keep writing viruses; we know that," Ballmer said. "Our goal has to be to block them before they can ever get onto those PCs."
Bureau Report
"We are in many ways humbled by the developments of the last few weeks," Ballmer said yesterday in a speech at the Churchill Club, a Silicon Valley business networking group. "Windows (operating system) is the most popular platform in the world, so every security incident with it is just magnified and magnified and magnified across so many more systems than with any other platform." The blaster, or Lovsan, worm, exploited a flaw in nearly all versions of Microsoft's windows operating system. The worm infected hundreds of thousands of computers around the world. Just last week, Microsoft disclosed new flaws, almost identical to that exploited by the blaster worm, in Windows.
Despite the January 2002 launch of Microsoft's "trustworthy computing" initiative, the company must still do more to fight security threats, Ballmer said.
Besides trying to write more secure code, Microsoft is investing in "shield technology" to block viruses from even reaching personal computers, Ballmer said. For example, users of Windows XP have an Internet connection firewall that can be activated.
"We know that the bad guys are going to keep writing viruses; we know that," Ballmer said. "Our goal has to be to block them before they can ever get onto those PCs."
Bureau Report