Friday, 29 September 2006

Sophos Reports Vulnerability In Powerpoint

SophosLab, has reported a newly discovered vulnerability in MS PowerPoint and has reminded computer users to be wary of opening unsolicited files. The unpatched flaw is believed to allow hackers to run malicious code, such as a worm, on Windows and Mac computers.

Microsoft has published details of the issue in the security advisory on its web site. The vulnerability is believed to affect MS PowerPoint 2000 and 2002, MS Office PowerPoint 2003, MS PowerPoint 2004 for Mac, and Microsoft PowerPoint v. X for Mac.

"Hackers are showing increasing ingenuity in their attempts to break into innocent users' computers, and are hunting for bugs in commonly-used programs to exploit. PowerPoint is the standard business tool for presentations, underlining that all computer users need to be show great caution when handling unsolicited email attachments." said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos.

Sophos recommends that companies protect their e-mail gateways with a consolidated solution to defend against viruses, spyware and spam, as well as apply an email policy that filters unsolicited content.