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hbgator

Wed 11 Apr, 2007


micros0ft warns of 4 "critical" security holes

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Wed Apr 11,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> 3:08 AM ET
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Microsoft Corp.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> <b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>(Nasdaq:MSFT <b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>-<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> news)<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> warned of four security flaws in its software that it categorized as <b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>"critical"<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> on Tuesday that could allow attackers to gain control of a user's computer.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>
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Microsoft,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> whose Windows operating system runs some 95 percent of the world's computers,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> issued the patches as part of its monthly security bulletin.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>
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The world's biggest software maker defines a flaw as <b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>"critical"<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> when it could allow a damaging Internet worm to replicate without the user's doing anything to the machine.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>
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The company said the <b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>"critical"<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> patches fixed three holes in its Windows operating system and another in its Content Management Server product.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> Microsoft also issued another security update for Windows it rated at the lower threat level of <b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>"important.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>"<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>
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The fixes come a little more than a week after it released a patch outside of the regular monthly update to plug a security hole related to an animated cursor that hackers had used to launch attacks after users clicked on links to malicious Web sites.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>
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The company has been working to improve the security and reliability of its software as more and more malicious software target weaknesses in Windows and other Microsoft software.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>
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The latest patches can be downloaded at www.microsoft.com/security.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>