American software giant Microsoft revealed an emergency software fix on November 5, 2013, which was released as the company found out that hackers had managed to exploit a previously undiscovered security mistake in its popular Microsoft Office software, due to which many customers’ PCs could be infected with tainted Word documents.
The company stated on its website that it released the software, which is known as ‘Fix it’. The new software is a temporary solution, until Microsoft offers an update which will automatically patch computers and protect them against the latest threat. The company also said that it found out about a very few attacks – mainly in the Middle East and South Asia – which exploited the recently-discovered vulnerability.
The victims have not been identified by Microsoft and they have received emails which asked them to open the tainted Word files. Customers who are using Office 2003 and Office 2007 are vulnerable to the attack, in addition to customers using Office 2010 on Windows XP and Server 2003.
Hackers attacked computers as they have taken advantage of an undiscovered mistake, which is normally used on a limited number of high-value targets, with an aim to keep these mistakes a secret. Fix Its are pieces of software which offer solutions for security flaws and have to be manually downloaded and installed on PCs.
Photo Credits: Metro UK
