Criminals have found a new way to attack PC users, taking advantage of what appears to be a new bug in Microsoft's Word software, according to Symantec.
Symantec warned of the attack Tuesday, saying on its Web site> that it had seen attackers exploiting "what is possibly an undisclosed vulnerability affecting Microsoft Word."
The security vendor released few details of the attack, saying that it is still working with Microsoft to confirm its findings. "Initial analysis suggests that some Microsoft Office versions, even when fully patched, are affected by this exploit," Symantec said.
There have been a large number of bugs found in Microsoft's Office software, including Word, over the past few years. In order to exploit these flaws, attackers must typically trick the victim into opening a maliciously encoded Office document, which then allows them to install malicious software on the PC.
In this case, the malicious code is a Trojan horse program, called Backdoor.Darkmoon, which logs the victim's keystrokes in order to steal passwords.
Symantec's antivirus software is now detecting the attack, but the security company recommends that users avoid opening unsolicited Word documents.
This is the second Microsoft attack reported this week. On Monday, Microsoft said that cybercriminals are exploiting a bug in software used by its Access database program. That flaw lies in the Snapshot Viewer ActiveX control, which ships with "all supported versions of Microsoft Office Access except Microsoft Access 2007," Microsoft said in a security advisory.
Reached Tuesday afternoon, Microsoft representatives were unable to comment on the Word flaw.
Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. Achieving the impossible: Unlimited application scalability
Radicati Market Quadrant 2008 on Corporate Web Security
Simplify and Secure: Managing User Identities Throughout their Lifecycles
Still Sneaking In: The Threats Your Security Tools Aren't Telling You About
Simplify, Integrate and Safeguard Your Business with Secure Web Business Enablement
Data grids and service-oriented architecture
Delivering the Power of Choice with Microsoft Dynamics CRM
BT saves more than £15 million and improves customer services with comprehensive Identity & Access Management
Zones provide focussed content from Computerworld and leading technology partners.
Security Management
Protect your critical IT assets, achieve sustainable regulatory compliance, reduce IT administration costs and enable new business opportunities with our IT security solutions.
IT Security as a business enabler?
Download Whitepaper
|
Success Stories
Australian Unity minimises costs and maximises productivity with single sign-on for 1,400 users
Australian Unity needed to address its business and security risks including user management and application security management. The company chose an enterprise single sign-on (ESSO) solution and discovered increased employee productivity, reduced help desk costs and elevated data protection.
Download the full Success Story
BT saves more than £15 million and improves customer services with comprehensive Identity & Access Management
To enable future growth and ensure its services remain competitive, BT needed to build closer relationships with its customers and suppliers. Discover how the company is now performing over 36 million transactions a day with their improved Identity & Access Management Solution.
Download the full Success Story
Identity & Access Management
Simplify and Secure: Managing User Identities Throughout their Lifecycles
Organisations are constantly challenged to keep pace with ongoing changes to users and their roles, responsibilities and requirements. Discover how CA can help you create a unified approach for managing users identities, providing them with timely and appropriate access to applications and information.
Download Whitepaper
Simplify, Integrate and Safeguard Your Business with Secure Web Business Enablement
Modern organisations are required to aggressively expand the number and type of Web applications and services provided to customers, partners and employees. Discover how to automate, delegate and centralise your key processes and services including user administration, access policies, auditing and compliance by reading on.
Download Whitepaper
Simplify, Integrate and Secure: Providing Secure Access to Server-based Information and Resources Across Platforms
Distributed servers are a powerful asset in any company’s infrastructure. Over time, most organisations have acquired a variety of different platforms and are relying on them to house an increased amount of critical applications, processes and data. Read on to discover how you can achieve a consistently higher level of server access security across multiple platforms including virtual hosts and guest operating systems.
Download Whitepaper
Buying Guides
Latest Products
Buying Guides
