While kicking off an automatic update for Windows XP Service Pack 2, Microsoft issued a warning and patches April 12 for five new security flaws in Windows, Internet Explorer, Word, and Messenger that could let an attacker take over a personal computer.
The company acknowledged that the flaws were rated “critical” in its monthly security bulletin.
"Anything that's rated as a critical has the risk of someone being able to take over that machine completely," said iDefense Labs director Michael Sutton, whose firm worked with Microsoft to detect three of the five new flaws.
Hackers could use the flaws to take over a personal computer and hijack or wipe out some of the user’s information as well as use it as part of a remote network to launch more attacks, Microsoft acknowledged.
The Redmond, Wash., software empire also warned that a flaw in its Exchange Server software could be used by networked computers to manage and store email.
Word of the new flaws could cast somewhat of a pall over Microsoft’s image, considering that the company has spent at least three years trying to bolster the security and reliability of its products, and has been under increasing fire from security analysts and antivirus makers for reputed slowness in facing and acknowledging such problems.
