Hackers Exploit Microsoft...Again

October 2006
Hackers stepping up pace of Microsoft exploits. The cat_and_mouse game that Microsoft Corp. and hackers have been playing for years escalated last week, just as the software giant was addressing some of the biggest problems facing computer users. On Tuesday, October 10, the company released a record 26 security fixes for the Windows operating system and the widely used Office programs such as Word, Excel and Outlook. Thursday, October 12, hackers pounced again, posting on the Internet information about vulnerabilities in PowerPoint 2003, one of the Office programs widely used by business customers and increasingly used by students. Microsoft, whose products are the largest targets of hackers because its products are used on most computer systems, issues software updates to protect users' computers from the viruses, worms and spyware that are spread through their products via e_mail attachments and the Web.

But because those patches are released on a regular schedule __ the second Tuesday of each month __ the people who expose and exploit the vulnerabilities in the programs tend to wait until a day or so after the monthly release to reveal other vulnerabilities they have discovered.
Source:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp_dyn/content/article/2006/10/12/AR2006101201744.html