[Translation of MS spokesman's comment, courtsey of Jon Lasser: "When we say Windows XP is the most secure system ever we're not saying you should trust it with your data." --Declan] --- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10033-2001Dec20.html By Ariana Eunjung Cha Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, December 21, 2001; Page E01 When reports of viruses, hackers and software flaws seem to show up in e-mail boxes several times a day, they become almost mundane. But the latest one was a doozy. Microsoft Corp. said its new Windows XP operating system, which it had touted as a "secure and private" computing experience, has an unprecedented flaw. In a security bulletin issued to customers yesterday, Microsoft said the "serious vulnerability" could allow hackers to commandeer all the computers in a neighborhood or company in a single attack. The Redmond, Wash., company urged customers to update their systems with a patch available on its Web site. The acknowledgment could be a blow to the ambitions of Microsoft, which hoped that $500 million worth of flashy advertisements promoting Windows XP would result in billions of dollars worth of sales that would revitalize the high-tech sector. [...] Microsoft spokesman Tom Laemmel said the flaw "slipped through" the company's testing process but that XP's security still is superior to that of previous Windows versions. "When we say Windows XP is the most secure system ever we're not saying it's perfect," he said. [...] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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