Monday, April 2, 2007

ACSS Newsletter - Critical Windows Vulnerability

Animated Cursor Vulnerability

Description
A vulnerability in Microsoft Windows may allow for code execution attacks. The flaw is found in the way ANI files are handled by the operating system. A user would have to visit a malicious Web site in for an attack to occur.

Programs affected:
Email applications (Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird, etc.); and
Browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, etc.)

Advice:
Better to read emails in plain text.
Be careful about websites visited.
Make sure your anti-virus and anti-spyware software is up to date.

Microsoft has stated that it intends to issue an update on Tuesday, April 3, to address this vulnerability. This is further proof as to how critical this issue is.

Hacking Into the Past

In my youth, I would take apart various electronic games, un-soldering and re-soldering them, and taking pride in the fact that that the suc...