Alert 1112007

Bumper Crop of Instant Messaging Bugs

Chatters, BEWARE! A rash of new bugs have hit the popular IM clients Yahoo Messenger and MSN Messenger. The latest vulnerability could allow bad guys to feed any file to users of Yahoo Messenger, according to an e-mial alert from nCircle Network Security. This is the ninth zero-day exploit to target Yahoo's chat client this year, according to nCircle, and it leaves users vulnerable to Trojan horses and other malware. Yahoo hadn't released word of a patch at press time, but researchers believe that running Internet Explorer 7 with default security settings will likely protect you from this bug.

Yahoo did correct an earlier problem that would have allowed a complicated, two stage attack through an Active X control that's part of Messenger. The exploit is difficult for hackers to pull off – meaning that it's less of a danger for you – but if you have a version of Messenger from before August 29, you should still update by going to find.pcworld.com/58913

Microsoft patched MSN Messenger and Windows Live Messenger in response to an attack that enters through a fake invitation to view someone else's Webcam. If your curiosity gets the better of you and you accept the invitation, the attacker could then do anything that you can on your machine. You are safe if you run MSN Messenger 7.0.0820 or Windows Live Messenger 8.1; otherwise, download the through Automatic Updates or at find.pcworld.com/58911








                 
HomeHow To'sDownload'sPricing and TermsRepair ServicesAbout PC SolutionsContact Us