Microsoft shot down in flames

Our favourite software giant in Redmond recently released a patch to stop naughty email viruses like the LoveBug from spamming users' address books. Basically the patch consists of a popup that warns you of outgoing mail that you may not be aware

Our favourite software giant in Redmond recently released a patch to stop naughty email viruses like the LoveBug from spamming users' address books. Basically the patch consists of a popup that warns you of outgoing mail that you may not be aware of. It's a simple fix, and an elegant one if you believe Microsoft, but a recent paper released by the United States Air Force suggests that the solution is remarkably inadequate.

Martin Carlisle, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the US Air Force Academy, will present his paper at a security conference in June. In it the professor (but not the Skipper, nor Mary Jane) claims that it is very easy to circumvent this warning popup with just a small amount of code. In effect, a clever virus writer could hide the dialogue box, and enter an affirmative in it - and then your infected and so are all your friends and contacts.

Microsoft has hit back saying that if someone can executable code on your system, then spamming your friends is the least of your troubles. Carlisle rightly calls this response arrogant. Security of this kind is basically a bandaid for a hemorrhaging wound - it might work for a little while, but is essentially superficial. Carlisle believes that a much deeper response to virus threats is called for, like disabling VB scripting for instance.
Read the paper for yourself