Microsoft Source Code Leaked Over Web

MyWay News ^

[Happy2BMe]

Feb 12, 10:23 PM (ET)

By ALLISON LINN

SEATTLE (AP) - Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) said late Thursday that portions of its Windows source code - the tightly guarded blueprints of its dominant operating system - had been leaked over the Internet.

Microsoft spokesman Tom Pilla said in an interview with The Associated Press that some incomplete portions of the Windows 2000 and Windows NT4 source code had been "illegally made available on the Internet."

Access to the source code could allow hackers to exploit the operating system and attack machines running Windows, which is used on hundreds of millions of computers worldwide.

The company was made aware of the leak on Thursday and is investigating, Pilla said. He did not know how much of the code had been leaked or how many people may have gained access to it. The company could not immediately pinpoint the source of the leak, and has contacted law enforcement authorities, he said.

Pilla said there was no indication the code leak was a result of a breach of Microsoft's corporate network. There was no known immediate impact on Microsoft customers, he said.

Microsoft has previously shared some of its source code with some U.S. government agencies, foreign governments and universities under tight restrictions that prevent such organizations from making it publicly available. But the company has generally argued that the blueprints to its operating system are proprietary, and shouldn't be made public.

Still, because some people outside Microsoft have had access to the code, analysts said it wasn't too surprising for such a leak to occur at some point - either intentionally or unintentionally.

"It seems unlikely this is going to create a material, significant security problem, said Rob Enderle, a technology expert and principal analyst with the Enderle Group. "It's more embarrassing than anything else because it makes it look like Microsoft can't control its code."

[Happy2BMe]

Woops!

[Happy2BMe]

"Microsoft has previously shared some of its source code with some U.S. government agencies, foreign governments and universities under tight restrictions that prevent such organizations from making it publicly available."

Let's see now. What country would want to hurt America by hurting Micro$oft?

Pakistan? India?

[Reelect President Dubya]

Bill's strategy of funding SCO to act as a stalking horse for open source FUD has failed, so his next step is obviously going to be to claim that Windows code has magically found its way into Linux.

[StatesEnemy]

Of course MS is embarrassed for showing its prudish @ss.

It only WISHES it could be free spirited Linux streaker!

[GeronL]

Drip..., Drip..., Drip...

[bcoffey]

Pakistan? India?

Oh, I thought that's where most of their source code was written in the first place.

[Happy2BMe]

Me smells a ret - from inside of Miker$oft.

[JoJo Gunn]

With the rumors of what they're wanting to do with Longhorn, such as your having to get a fry cook to give you permission to play a .wav file, it wouldn't surprise me in the least MS did it on purpose, to stir fear and mistrust. The code to 9x is probably out too, and considering how just this week they admitted to another exploit which they sat on for 6 months....

Call me paranoid. But unlike MS I never got dead people to write "letters to the editor" either.

[Happy2BMe]

"Oh, I thought that's (India and Pakistan) where most of their source code was written in the first place."

Don't get Miker$oft Help Desk confused with their $oftware development center in Redmond.

[Reaganwuzthebest]

Could be a strategy on Microsoft's part to release the code themselves. You never know now that Linux has become a real threat to their long-term survival.

[GeronL]

drip, drip, drip.... gusher!!!!!!!

[Happy2BMe]

"You never know now that Linux has become a real threat to their long-term survival."

And who said CYBERTERRORISM was not real . .

The FREEPERS Guide To Islamic Terror Websites - CYBERTERRORISM (And It's Sponsors)

[Abcdefg]

Don't advocate criminal behavior on this site.

[Happy2BMe]

Talk about "stepping in it" . .

[StatesEnemy]

I don't think blanketing Militant Islamic sites with HTTP requests - if the participants voluntarily load the necessary software - is illegal.

If so, can ya give me a link explaining the infraction?

[GOP_1900AD]

Do MS conduct real background checks on all the ChiCOMs and Ruskies they hire, both as H1Bs here in the US, as well as the ones in their ops in Communist Red China, as well as "reformed" Russia? I think I already know the answer, so I guess it's largely a rhetorical question.

[Happy2BMe]

"I think I already know the answer. ."

I think you do to.

[Golden Eagle]

Do MS conduct real background checks on all the ChiCOMs and Ruskies they hire...

They do as much as we're going to get from anyone who's not doing strictly DoD work.

illegal is the key word from the article above. Unfortunately many here and on other message boards will cheer this on.

[Agnes Heep]

Open access to source code is one of the main reasons why potential users shy away from Linux.