“Microsoft has patched several security holes in its Internet
Explorer and Office software, closing five potential avenues for
online attacks against its customers. The flurry of specific
bug patches comes as Microsoft moves to implement broader security
measures. The company came under heavy criticism for its security
policies following the widespread damage caused by the “I Love You”
virus, which exploited standard features of Microsoft’s Outlook
email application.”
“Microsoft this week yielded to that criticism, pledging to
implement safeguards in Outlook. Four of the patched holes are in
Microsoft’s IE browser. All of them made computers vulnerable to
invasions by malicious Web site operators, or senders of HTML
email.”
“Despite Microsoft’s pile of Web security bug patches, more
remain to be fixed. The company this week acknowledged a problem
with its version of IE for the Macintosh. The bug concerns the
browser’s handling of the Java programming language and, like the
bugs patched this week, opens a computer to malicious HTML
code.”