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Technology Stocks : BUG ALERT -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Cheeky Kid who wrote (22)	1/7/1999 3:25:00 PM
From: Milk	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24

Microsoft downplays security threat to Excel SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -- Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday downplayed any new threat to computer users from the widely publicized "Russian New Year Exploitation" that Israeli security firm Finjan demonstrated earlier in the week. Microsoft called the security alert "a restatement of the same issue that Microsoft fixed and alerted customers to in December." The software publisher earlier had told computer owners that if their machines were equipped with its widely installed Excel spreadsheet, they "could theoretically be misused by hackers to run malicious code on the user's machine without warning." The Israeli computer security firm, Finjan Inc., showed how an Internet savvy hacker could get into the Excel-equipped Web surfer from any site visited. Microsoft said it issued a downloadable security "patch" to prevent the entry of rogue data via the Excel software and anyone using the patch would have been able to thwart the Web-based attacker. Microsoft said it "continues to work closely with the antivirus community and recommends that customers run the latest virus protection software available." It suggested that customers visit the company's web site for more information on its software protections. Finjan called it "the worst vulnerability in five years" and cited computer experts who said the flaw had the potential to cause the most trouble since the so-called "Morris Worm," a disabling computer virus that caused widespread disruption on the Internet in 1988.