Digital Journal — Surprise, surprise, Microsoft is announcing security problems for the upcoming Windows Vista.
Microsoft confirmed that two of its 12 security patches issued this week apply to Windows Vista Beta 2, the widely-used pre-release of the next generation operating system from MS. The two flaws affecting Vista are in the critical class, meaning a remote attacker can gain control of a computer while the user is away or not logged in.
MS06-O42 is a security update for Internet Explorer that included patches for eight different vulnerabilities, and MS06-051 fixes a flaw in Windows that might let attackers hijack PCs by drawing users to malicious sites.
Analyst Michael Cheery told Information Week, “On one hand, it’s not a supported release and people are supposed to take the appropriate cautions, and not put it into a production environment. But you can’t test it that way. And this is a very wide beta.”
As hyped as Vista is, it looks like Microsoft is putting the cart before the horse. Security issues will continue to plague Windows like a nasty case of herpes and, as in all never-ending ailments, there’s no magical cure in sight.
So be careful what you stick in your hard drive.
