I got this from my OS/2 list and thought others might find this
interesting.
Regards,
Dale Mentzer
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
>From the Times of London today:
MICROSOFT was forced to shut down Hotmail, the
popular free e-mail service, yesterday when a webpage
allowed users to access the messages of any of the 40
million Hotmail users worldwide.
The page gave full access to any Hotmail account without
a password. Potential hackers needed only to know
someone's name to get in and take over their e-mail.
The security flaw lasted six hours before Microsoft shut
down the entire system. Bogus messages in another
person's name could also be sent.
News of the breach, and information about how it
worked, spread rapidly across both technical and hacking
websites. The original site, based in Sweden, was soon
taken down by its host, but not before it had been copied
to sites in the UK and US.
Hotmail is used by an estimated five million UK Internet
users. As it can be accessed from anywhere with a Web
browser, people use it for personal messages at work or
while travelling. It is especially popular among student
travellers overseas and businessmen.
"A lot of professionals will have a business address and
will use Hotmail as a personal alternative," said Davina
Cox, the manager of London's Global Caf=E9 in Soho. "Its
anonymous nature means that many of those using it are
seeking privacy for their e-mailing."
The breach of security over Hotmail will be seen as
another big blow for Microsoft. It is the third security
glitch to be revealed in three weeks, with its popular
Internet Explorer and Office products also found to be
flawed.
--------- End forwarded message ----------
It's hard to make a comeback when you haven't been anywhere
This mail written by a user of Arachne, the DOS Internet Client
WWWWW World Wide Web Without Windows
http://home.arachne.cz Arachne DOS Browser Home Page
To unsubscribe from SURVPC send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with
unsubscribe SURVPC in the body of the message.
Also, trim this footer from any quoted replies.
