Microsoft disputes SP2 hole claims

Microsoft is downplaying claims by a US security firm that Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) has 10 unpatched vulnerabilities, reports Information Week.

Finjan Software says its Malicious Code Research Centre has found 10 bugs that could be used by hackers to hijack systems when users view malicious Web pages, but Microsoft says the claims are potentially misleading and possibly erroneous.

Finjan says it has provided Microsoft with technical details on the vulnerabilities and with proof-of-concept code that demonstrates how the bugs could be turned into full-fledged security attacks. Microsoft says it is investigating the claims to determine their validity.

Security experts suspect the newest version of the MyDoom worm in circulation is an example of the feared "Zero Day attack", according to a report by PC World.

The report says "Zero Day" refers to an exploit, either a worm or a virus, that arrives soon after or even before the public announcement of a vulnerability in a computer system. The new MyDoom appeared only two days after a security flaw in Windows IE was made public, arousing suspicions that it will not be long before a worm or virus appears exploiting an unknown vulnerability and there will be no mechanism in place to fix it.

On the day that Microsoft unveiled the enhanced beta version of its search tool with 5 billion Web pages crawled, Google said it surpassed 8 billion Web pages crawled, reports Investors` Business Daily.

The report says new pages have been added from around the world, but Google did not reveal whether the pages were personal, academic, informative or commercial. Microsoft`s additional 4 billion pages milestone is being hailed as a marked improvement from 1 billion in July.