Microsoft says it's seeing 'targeted attacks' using Tavis Ormandy's bug
Microsoft Corp said hackers have attacked some computers by exploiting a bug in Windows first disclosed two months ago by a Google Inc researcher, who came under fire at the time for publicizing the flaw without going to the software company first.
Microsoft provided few details about the attacks. In an advisory on Tuesday, it said hackers had launched "targeted attacks," a term generally used by security experts to refer to cyber attacks on corporate or government targets, with espionage and sabotage as the motive.
Google security engineer Tavis Ormandy's disclosure in May was controversial because he posted technical information on the Web that described the bug in the Windows operating system, which some experts said could help malicious hackers launch attacks, before Microsoft had released software to fix it. Officials with Microsoft declined to comment when asked if they believed Ormandy's disclosure of the vulnerability had led to the attacks.
