Seattle, Apr 14: Microsoft Corp. has released three critical patches to fix ‘windows’ security flaws that could allow an attacker to take over another person's computer. A fourth patch, which the company called "important," fixes a similar vulnerability in versions of the Windows operating system, which runs more than 90 per cent of the world's computers. The patches, released as part of Microsoft's regular monthly update, apply to Windows editions dating back to windows 98, and also affect server systems going back to Windows NT Server 4.0. The repairs are aimed at preventing an unauthorized person from being able to install new programs or to view, change or delete data on someone else's computer. Similar flaws resulted in the blaster worm, which hobbled hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide last August.
A security expert predicted that the latest flaws could result in a similar attack, perhaps as soon as two weeks from now. Windows users who install the patch would not be affected. “There's definitely going to be attacks that come from this, just because of the criticalness of the vulnerability,'' said Marc Maiffret of Aliso Viejo, California-based Eeye digital security inc., which discovered some of the flaws.
Bureau Report