Reasons to Avoid Microsoft

Show All

MS Outlook

• French army sides with Mozilla in Microsoft email war (Reuters, 2009.12.10)
  A new email client unveiled by Mozilla this week contains code from an unusual source -- the French military, which decided the open source product was more secure than Microsoft's rival Outlook. ... France's military chose open source software after an internal government debate [...] culminated in a [...] directive requiring state agencies 'Seek maximum technological and commercial independence.' ... The French government is beginning to move to other open source software, including Linux instead of Windows and OpenOffice instead of Microsoft Office.
  

  
  Warning: Missing argument 6 for item(), called in /var/www/lugod/microsoft/index.php on line 637 and defined in /var/www/lugod/microsoft/includes.php on line 38
  

• Was HP.s traceable 'PattyMail' spyware? You decide (ZDNet Blogs, 2006.09.29)
  If you've been following the HP privacy scandal at all, then you'd know that HP resorted to (or considered resorting to) several techniques in hopes of smoking out whoever it was that was leaking information from its boardroom to the press... [including] sending traceable email ... I also showed how the versions of Microsoft's Outlook that are currently in circulation ... make it impossible to successfully forward an HTML-based e-mail without re-activating its traceability.
  

• Critical Windows Patch Fights Takeover Attacks (eWeek, 2005.11.08)
  Three image-rendering flaws in the Windows operating system could put millions of Internet-connected users at risk of PC takeover attacks, Microsoft Corp. warned on Tuesday. The flaws could be exploited via any software that displays images, including the widely used Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Word and Internet Explorer programs.
  

• MyDoom.O Harvesting Email Addresses from Search Engines and Causing Denial of Service Attacks (Businesswire, 2004.07.26)
  MyDoom.O searches user files (DOC TXT HTM and HTML) for domain names, then uses search engines (Lycos, AltaVista, Yahoo and Google) to search for 'e-mail' and the harvested domain in order to gain access to other email addresses. There is a strong likelihood that web-based lists such as phone books, memberships, discussion boards and general user home pages will be harvested by the machine and in turn infect others.
  

• Microsoft Discloses Huge Number Of Windows Vulnerabilties (TechWeb, 2004.04.13)
  The total number of vulnerabilities in the four security bulletins tallied an astounding 20 separate flaws in Windows and Outlook Express. ... Sixteen of the 20 vulnerabilities can be exploited remotely, the most dangerous type of bug because hackers can conduct an attack over the Internet. ... The most severe of the dozen-plus-two vulnerabilities -- six of the bugs are rated 'Critical' -- could allow an attacker to take complete control of an system, including installing programs, deleting data, or creating new user accounts that have full access privileges.
  

• The Bagle Virus' Nasty Turn (The Motley Fool, 2004.03.19)
  Even the most casual of home PC users now understand that it's dangerous to open strange attachments they're not expecting, especially from strangers or, sometimes, even from friends who have unknowingly sent a virus. This new version of Bagle only requires a recipient to open the email or view it within the Outlook preview frame, where some invisible HTML code downloads and infects a PC through a known flaw in the Internet Explorer browser. ... [It] could signal a new trend in viruses -- executing without attachments is a smarter contagion indeed.
  

• A Virus (Personal web log, 2003.09.03)
  [The] file appears to be an exploit directed at IE 5 (and possibly 6) and Outlook Express (which uses an integrated IE component for displaying e-mail). This exploit appears to allow the exploiter to execute arbitrary code ... on the exploited machine.
  

• Virus Leaks Files From University Hall (The Harvard Crimson, 2003.06.27)
  [Administrators'] personal correspondence -- including a memo concerning a case before the Administrative Board -- found its way to mere acquaintances. The administrative glasnost was not intentional, however, caused instead by a computer virus that swept across the Internet in early June and infected a number of University Hall machines. ... Harvard students reported receiving a variety of seemingly misaddressed, unusual messages... at least one message, sent from an infected machine on the second floor of University Hall and received by at least three Harvard undergraduates, contained a confidential memo [between the Secretary and Dean of the Faculty].
  

• New BugBear worm still spreading (MSNBC News, 2003.06.05)
  Malicious program specifically targets financial institutions... The new worm spread to 115 countries just hours after its release... '[It] is likely to be more damaging than any virus seen so far this year...' [It] uses a particularly nasty flaw in Microsoft's Internet Explorer program and its implementation by Microsoft's Outlook e-mail reader that allows the virus to infect machines whenever a victim simply previews an e-mail message loaded with the program.
  

• Restricted Zone: the OUTLOOK EXPRESS (LUGOD Mailing Lists, 2003.05.21)
  Silent delivery and installation of an executable on a target computer. No client input other than opening an email or newsgroup post. This can be achieved with the default setting of Outlook Express: RESTRICTED ZONE.
  

• First Worm with a [End User License Agreement]? (Slashdot.org, 2002.Oct.25)
  There is a new virtual postcard... that prompts you to install their software to view the card. You are then presented with a EULA granting them permission to e-mail all the Contacts in your Outlook Address Book. Those people are presented with an e-mail from you telling them they have a greeting card to pick up. So, this thing spreads like a worm, but includes a EULA that 95% of users won't take the time to read. ... it also installs spyware designed to deliver ads to your computer. You also give them permission to install further software any time they want.
  

• W32/Klez (Virus Bulletin, 2002.Jul)
  When W32/Klez first appeared, it seemed like just another mass mailer of little note, but its later variants have spread so widely and rapidly that the Klez family has generated more interest. At the time of writing, there are 12 known variants of Klez. Despite the speed with which anti-virus developers released detection updates, despite the fact that some anti-virus products detected the later variants even before they were released, and despite its destructive payload, Klez remains a problem that shows no sign of being resolved in the near future.
  

• Chernobyl virus rides Klez's coattails (CNet, 2002.May.06)
  [The four-year old 'Chernobyl' virus] has been detected in recent infections of the Klez worm. ... the viral bonus wasn't intentional but rather a by-product of Chernobyl-infected PCs also propagating the Klez worm. 'As far as (Chernobyl) is concerned, the Klez worm is just another file to infect'... [Klez has been ranked] as No. 3 on [a] list of all-time most active computer pests.
  

• Klez: Don't Believe 'From' Line (Wired, 2002.Apr.30)
  Some Internet users have recently received an e-mail message from a dead friend. Others have been subscribed to obscure mailing lists. Some have lost their Internet access after being accused of spamming, and still others have received e-mailed pornography from a priest. ... The virus can launch automatically when users click to preview or read e-mails bearing Klez on systems that have not been patched for a year-old vulnerability in Internet Explorer, Outlook and Outlook Express. Klez only affects PCs running Microsoft's Windows operating system.
  

• Klez Worm, Not Sender, Hates You (Wired, 2002.Apr.24)
  Many computer users say that friends, co-workers and business associates are angrily -- or patronizingly -- accusing them of sending out viruses. Some victims say they fear their professional reputations have been harmed. ... [Some people are] worried the Klez e-mails that appear to come from [them] will negatively impact [their] small business[es].
  

• W32.Gibe@mm (Symantec, 2002.Mar.06)
  W32.Gibe@mm is a worm that uses Microsoft Outlook ... to spread. This worm arrives in an email message--which is disguised as a Microsoft Internet Security Update...
  

• W32.Myparty@mm (Symantec, 2002.Jan.26)
  The worm sends email to all contacts in your Windows address book, and to email addresses that if finds in the Outlook Express Inboxes and folders. ... On NT/2000/XP systems, the worm drops a backdoor Trojan that allows a hacker to control your system. NAV will detect this as Backdoor.Myparty.
  

• Welyah Virus (F-Secure, 2001.Dec.20)
  ...it does not depend on Outlook for e-mail sending. ... Outlook [executes] the attachment automatically. ... the worm will be started when Windows starts up.
  

• 'Goner' Virus Infects Businesses (iwon News, 2001.Dec.04)
  Anti-virus companies scrambled to protect their customers against a new viruslike e-mail attack Tuesday that purports to be a computer screen saver program. ... In addition to ICQ, Goner affects only Microsoft's Outlook and Outlook Express e-mail programs on computers running Windows.
  

• W32.Klez.A@mm [e-mail worm] (Symantec, 2001.Nov.5)
  W32.Klez.A@mm is a mass-mailing email worm. It attempts to copy itself into folders on both local and network drives. The worm exploits a vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express in an attempt to execute itself when you open or even preview the message. [...] Finally, the worm executes its payload on the 13th of every other month. The payload causes files on local and mapped drives to become zero bytes in size.
  

• MSN Forces Outlook POP (Slashdot.org, 2001.Oct.17)
  Microsoft's Anti-Spam initiative forces POP users to use the primary sender of mail worms.
  

• Global Routing Instabilities during Code Red II and Nimda Worm Propagation (Renesys Corp, 2001.Sep.19)
  [We] have documented a compelling connection between global routing instability and the propagation phase of Microsoft worms such as Code Red and Nimda. Contrary to conventional wisdom, what were thought to be purely traffic-based denials of service in fact are seen to generate widespread end-to-end routing instability originating at the Internet's edge. ... The steep exponentially growth of the September 18 [Border Gateway Patrol] storm is aligned with the exponential spread of Nimda, the most virulent Microsoft worm seen to date. The Nimda worm exhibits extremely high scan rates, multiple attack modes generating very heavy traffic, and has been much more damaging that the July Code Red worm.
  

• Nimda Worm Shows You Can't Always Patch Fast Enough (Gartner Group, 2001.Sep.19)
  Gartner recommends that enterprises hit by both Code Red and Nimda immediately investigate alternatives to IIS, including moving Web applications to Web server software from other vendors, such as iPlanet and Apache. ... they have much better security records than IIS ... [We remain] concerned that viruses and worms will continue to attack IIS until Microsoft has released a completely rewritten, thoroughly and publicly tested, new release of IIS. Sufficient operational testing should follow to ensure that the initial wave of security vulnerabilities every software product experiences has been uncovered and fixed. This move should include any Microsoft .NET Web services, which requires the use of IIS. [We belive] that this rewriting will not occur before year-end 2002.
  

• W32.Nimda.A@mm (Symantec, 2001.Sep.18)
  The worm uses MAPI calls to read email in your email program's inbox to find new email addresses. These MAPI functions are supported by Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express. ... The worm attempts to exploit unpatched IIS servers.
  

Hosting provided by:
Sunset Systems
Sunset Systems offers preconfigured Linux systems, remote system administration and custom software development.

LUGOD: Linux Users' Group of Davis
PO Box 2082, Davis, CA 95617
Contact Us

LUGOD is a 501(c)7 non-profit organization
based in Davis, California
and serving the Sacramento area.
"Linux" is a trademark of Linus Torvalds.