MS Office Zero-Day Under Attack

paulBarbs writes "Microsoft is warning users to be on the lookout for suspicious Excel files that arrive unexpectedly — even if they come from a co-worker's e-mail address. In an advisory, Microsoft confirmed a new wave of limited "zero-day" attacks was underway, using a code execution flaw in its Microsoft Office desktop productivity suite. Although .xls files are currently being used to launch the spear phishing attacks, Microsoft said users of other Office applications (Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Access, etc.) are potentially at risk."

Comments

How old are you?

[HomelessInLaJolla]

Dear Exploit,

How old are you? How long have you been available in the wild? How long did your brother exist in SP1 before you came along in SP2? Do you have a cousin which works in Win98/SE? How long have corporate managers been using you to spy on their employees?

Signed,

Secret Admirer

what?

[macadamia_harold]

MS Office Zero-Day Under Attack

*rereads headline* what?

Re:what?

[JoshJ]

It's simple. Microsoft's "Zero-Day" product has been under attack by Offices. Probably for being so full of zeros. They need to fill in more of the 0's with 1's.

I open Excel files 1 day after I receive them

[product byproduct]

to protect myself against 0-day attacks.

Bill was RIGHT.

[Anonymous Coward]

The other day, Bill Gates suggested to Newsweek the the Mac is super-insecure due to lack of code base drama within Mac OS X:

The number [of Vista security flaws] will be way less because we've done some dramatic things in the code base. Apple hasn't done any of those things. He was so right. It is time for Mac users to upgrade to Vista, after all, TFA says:

Confirmed vulnerable: [...]Office 2004 v. X for Mac. There you have it fanboyz... CMD-. your life away! Vista all the way baby!

Re:When will people and businesses learn?!

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, in Microsoft's defense, the next version of Windows is going to be even more secure! Stick with us, because we care, damn it! Honest! I swear!

. .. and if anyone disagrees, I will throw a chair at them to prove just how much we care!

Signed,

Ballmer

totally offtopic

[DragonTHC]

I'm shocked that Billy Joel needed a vocoder to perform the national anthem at the superbowl

Nevermind that...

[Sodki]

... look how pretty Ribbon is!

Re:Glad I switched

[mccalli]

I am so glad I switched to open office. Now whenever one of these things happens I send the article to my friends along with a link for OpenOffice

Do you send links to any of these OpenOffice vulnerabilities as well?

Cheers,
Ian

Re:because it's not that easy

[zcat_NZ]

If only there were a single, well defined and completely open document format that could be used by anyone, with any office suite. That would be just great.

Re:Gates and Microsoft deserve all the scorn

[steeviant]

I say we just put up with the problems in Windows.
Windows just needs time to mature.
At the moment Microsoft are undergoing a big shake up.
Everyone has their foibles, and Windows is no different.
No software is perfect.
Microsoft are really trying to turn things around.

Re:OO

[zCyl]

Linux? never heard about it...

It's simple. Linux is to Windows what Data was to Hal.

Re: eComStation and OpenOffice.org

[dr.badass]

For Christmas I bought a system from CSS.

Did you get an employee discount?

Re:When will people and businesses learn?!

[Beer_Smurf]

We use a system that is so hosed that we smash every computer with a hammer before it comes in the door.
Great.

The Irony

[Tom]

Hi Bill. Didn't you just brag about windos security?

I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine. February: check