The company has said that hackers have exploited a program that plays videos in Internet Explorer.

In a statement issued online, Microsoft has advised people using the web browser on Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 to disable ActiveX Video until a fix is available.

ActiveX Video Control is used to capture, record and play video.

“An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the local user,” the company said.

“When the ActiveX control is used in Internet Explorer, the control may corrupt the system state in such a way that an attacker could run an arbitrary code.”

According to Microsoft, attackers are able to install programs; view, change or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. Unsuspecting users may also get emails directing them to hazardous websites.

Microsoft warns of potential security issues | News | News.com.au

About 100 experts from around the world are gathering in Brisbane today for a high-tech crime symposium.

Queensland Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson said fraud and corporate crime using the internet was getting worse.

“Cyber crime is a global phenomenon that can be expected to continue to rise exponentially around the world as the internet continues its roll out,” Mr Atkinson said.

 ”It is for this reason significant effort has been made to bring together an ensemble of national and international speakers and presenters together to gain a broader appreciation of a unique crime environment.

“Noone nor any business is immune. If you own a computer or a phone you fall within the potential victim network.”

Mr Atkinson said scams were becoming more sophisticated, using not only email and the web but mobile phone text messages.

“We see victims suffer not only embarrassment and humiliation but many victims are losing their home and life savings – everything,” Mr Atkinson said.

“Additionally, we see that corporate entities are becoming more often the individual focus of highly skilled hackers and cyber criminals.”

The conference has been organised for experts to share strategies and initiatives to crack down on net crime.

Police chief says net fraud worsening | National Breaking News | News.com.au

Speaking to an annual gathering of 15,000 computer security experts in San Francisco, Gates invoked the metaphor of a medieval castle to explain the problem: Programmers build bigger moats and thicker fortress walls – but they don’t bother to protect the corporate crown jewels when members of their fiefdom exit the castle and leave the drawbridge open.

“We used to think of the data centre as a glass house that was very isolated,” Gates said. “But if we look (at) what actually goes on – consultants come into your company, employees who are not onsite need full access – we cannot think of that glass house as the way to define what can connect to what. We need a far more powerful paradigm.”

Read more Data security a challenge: Gates – Security – Technology – theage.com.au

The hole registers high on the irony scale: The flaw was in a “malware protection engine” that helps several Microsoft security products – including “Windows Defender” for Vista – guard against online threats. The problem could let an outsider “take complete control” of a victim’s computer, according to Microsoft’s security advisory.

This isn’t to say that Vista had previously appeared clean. Already a few vulnerabilities have popped up – including a remarkably low-tech hack.

Read more A patch for Vista – Security – Technology – theage.com.au

It’s true: the more aware of the risks on the internet that computer users become, the more sophisticated and creative criminals become in their attacks.

Internet security companies are reporting a bumper year for online crime aimed at home users, with new forms of phishing scams sprouting each day to catch people off guard.

Now there’s a spin-off to phishing, called “vishing”. It’s spread by email and executed via the old and trusted telephone.

Read more Something’s phishy – Security – Technology – theage.com.au