Serious Flaw

investmenttool.com technology journal

A devastating security flaw in the recently released Windows XP product came to might in the technology business last week. It is very serious for actual users of the operating system as well as Microsoft's bottom line as people are fearful of the product. Already hurt by reports of much lower sales of Windows XP than during the Windows 98 launch, this is certainly not going to help.

This is not some small esoteric problem that would only worry geeks. This is a monumental issue, a security flaw so large that you can drive a truck through it. It raises the ugly specter of millions of home computers being co-opted and used in a denial of service attack on Internet commerce.

The flaw? Log on to the Internet with Windows XP and a hacker can take over your computer. The hacker can then use your machine for anything he or she wants. The hacker can send millions of bytes to slow down e-commerce web sites, or try and deny access to government data. The hacker can attack government or defense computer systems in an effort to disrupt our war on terror. The hacker can also do the usual thing like delete all your files, or email himself all the account and social security information on your system, trying to steal your identity.

Microsoft's response? "We're sorry. We have posted a fix on our web site and urge all users of Windows XP to download and install it immediately." Guess we should hope for nothing bad to happen during the download.

Good thing Microsoft built Windows Update into the OS a few years ago so you can log on the Internet, make yourself vulnerable to this hack and let Bill Gates collect a bunch of personal information in the same download.

It is outrageous that Microsoft let the OS out the door in this condition. This after a beta test process that supposedly involved over 100,000 users. Windows 2000 had some security issues on release but there were far less serious than this problem. Maybe that was the alpha test and the first million consumers stuck with Windows XP are the beta testers.

Where do you want to go? Not down this road. I'm sticking with Windows 2000 until this XP puppy is stable.

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Shmuel Protter
investmenttool.com

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