p2pnet.net News:- Rumours that Windows source code is now available online aren’t rumours. And the leak wasn’t from from Microsoft but Mainsoft,

"Microsoft may find itself more worried about the egg on its face than possible exposure of its flagship operating system,"says a report in BetaNews here, going on that Microsoft has opened an investigation with the FBI.

"Analysis indicates files within the leaked archive are only a subset of the Windows source code, licensed to Mainsoft for use in the company’s MainWin product," it says. MainWin utilizes the source to create native Unix versions of Windows applications.

But, "Having even small portions of the Windows source code freely available online is a nightmare scenario for Microsoft," says an eWeek story here.

"The potential for piracy is lessened somewhat by the fact that a complete copy of the code isn’t available. However, experts say that the real concern at this point is the damage that could be done by crackers who find unknown vulnerabilities in the code.

"Vulnerabilities in Windows NT and Windows 2000 will likely be much easier to discover and exploit now that the source code has been leaked to the Internet. This has increased the threat level for anyone using Microsoft Windows 2000 or NT, causing organizations to step up security measures and embrace predictive and rapid response intelligence systems," said Ken Dunham, malicious code manager at iDefense Inc., based in Reston, Va."

The leaked code includes 30,915 files apparently removed from a Linux computer used by Mainsoft for development purposes, states BetaNews. Dated July 25, 2000, the source code represents Windows 2000 Service Pack 1.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 13th, 2004 at 6:05 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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