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FBI Computer Security Arm Warns of Windows XP Holes By Reuters, 12/24/2001 SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center has urged users of Microsoft's Windows XP operating system to disable a feature that could leave computers open to attacks from hackers. In a statement issued on Saturday, the FBI's NIPC, which usually leaves computer security warnings to the private sector, said it held technical discussions with Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O) and other industry experts on Friday to identify ways to minimize the risk from security holes in the XP software, which was launched in late October. A Microsoft spokesman said he had no comment on Monday on the NIPC statement. The software giant announced last week it had found two vulnerabilities in its new operating system that could leave computers running it open to hackers and at risk of being temporarily shut down from a denial-of-service attack or used in such an attack on other computers. Under a denial-of-service attack, a server is flooded with so much Internet traffic that it is made inaccessible to legitimate traffic. In addition to installing the security patch available from Microsoft's Web site, computer users running Windows XP should disable the ''Universal Plug and Play'' feature, if they are not using it, the NIPC said in its statement. Microsoft's Universal Plug and Play software allows devices added to a network to be automatically recognized and accessed. It is installed by default on XP systems, can be switched on in Windows ME systems and installed separately on the Windows 98 operating systems. Microsoft and security experts have warned that hackers could take advantage of the feature to gain access to otherwise secure systems by overwhelming computers with data flow, a common method used by hackers. The way that the software recognizes new machines on a network could also be exploited by hackers to spoof their way into a system and take control in order to launch a denial of service attack, the company and experts said. The NIPC has issued warnings since Sept. 11 for network administrators to be on alert for possible distributed denial-of-service attacks, which could interfere with e-commerce and slow-down the Internet if serious enough. Microsoft has said that Windows XP is its most secure operating system ever. Microsoft has shipped at least 650,000 copies of XP since it was launched Oct. 25, not including units that ship with new PCs, according to marker researcher NPD Intellect. <http://digitalmass.boston.com/news/wire_story.html?uri=/dailynews/358/technology/FBI_Computer_Security_Arm_Warn:.shtml> --via http://techPolice.com archive: http://theMezz.com/cybercrime/archive subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] --via http://theMezz.com ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?b1dhr0.b2EDp2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
