BBN 2/8 German Hackers Demonstrate Flaw in Microsoft Technology

Hamburg, German, Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) -- German software hackers last week demonstrated on German TV a way to program Microsoft Corp. technology to take money from a bank account and deposit it in another without using a personal identification number, CMP Media Inc.'s TechWire reported. The hackers were able to use Microsoft's ActiveX programming technology to gain access to a transaction list stored on Intuit Inc.'s Quicken financial software and give a transfer order, the Internet news service reported. Microsoft, which has a system that lets software publishers stamp different programs so computer uses know they can trust them and avoid such problems, said it will begin a security awareness campaign during the next two weeks, TechWire reported.

Microsoft said last week it plans to phase out development of its Windows NT operating system for computers using the PowerPC chip.

(TechWire 2/6)
--Heather Green in the Princeton newsroom (609) 279-4078/jpw