Microsoft Finds Excel Security Flaw

Microsoft Corp. said hackers have found a way to use some older versions of its Excel spreadsheet program to take over control of people's computers.

Microsoft said late Tuesday that it is investigating reports of such attacks, but has not yet determined whether it will patch the hole, or when.

People who open a specially crafted Excel file from an e-mail attachment or visit a compromised Web site could be inviting hackers to take over their PCs for malicious purposes such as stealing passwords and other personal information, or sending out spam. Microsoft Office Excel 2003 Service Pack 2, Excel Viewer 2003, Excel 2002, Excel 2000 and Excel 2004 for Mac all contain the security hole.

The software maker said in a statement that users of these programs can protect their computers by using a tool that scans the files for bad code before opening, called Microsoft Office Isolated Conversion Environment.

The most recent versions of the spreadsheet program, Excel 2007, Excel 2007 SP 1 and Excel 2008 for Mac, are not thought to be affected, Microsoft said.

Facebook Urged to Give up Scrabulous

The companies that make the board game Scrabble are trying to shut down Scrabulous, an online version that is one of the most popular applications on the social networking site Facebook.

Hasbro Inc., which owns the rights to the crossword game in the United States and Canada, and Mattel Inc., which owns the rights elsewhere, believe the online game, developed in India, infringes on their copyrights and trademarks.

Scrabulous listed more than 600,000 daily active users on Facebook as of Wednesday and is one of the 10 most used applications on the site. People can also play at Scrabulous.com.

Hasbro and Mattel jointly issued cease-and-desist notices to four parties involved in the development, hosting and marketing of Scrabulous, according to a letter Hasbro is sending consumers who have contacted them about Scrabulous.

In a separate written statement released Wednesday, Hasbro did not name the four parties but said it was reviewing a number of options with them and hoped to find an amicable solution.

"If we cannot come to one quickly, we will be forced to close down the site and its associated distribution points,"

Hasbro said.

Scrabulous' co-developer, Jayant Agarwalla, said in an e-mail that he usually does not comment on legal issues. Facebook did not return several requests for comment.

While there are authorized Scrabble games online, Scrabulous has gained popularity because it is free, easy to play with friends and easy to access on Facebook.

The game was developed by brothers Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla, from Calcutta, India, who say on the Web site that they created it after they could not find an online version of Scrabble that they liked.

News of the toy companies' action prompted Scrabulous fans to start a "Save Scrabulous" group on Facebook and urge others to lodge protests with the companies by posting Web links to the Hasbro and Mattel sites.

In the letter Hasbro is sending to those who protest, the company urges Scrabulous fans to switch to legal Scrabble sites.

"We are not surprised that fans have thoroughly enjoyed playing Scrabulous on Facebook.com,"

the letter says.

"What consumers may not realize, however, is that Scrabulous is an illegally copied online version of the world's most popular word game."

John D. Williams Jr., executive director of the National Scrabble Association, said the group was hopeful the companies could work out some sort of agreement. While most competitive Scrabble players do not play Scrabulous, he said the online game was a great way to introduce young people to the traditional board game.

"We're thrilled over anything that gets people playing more Scrabble,"

he said.

"Our goal is to recruit them from the Internet and get them playing on a Scrabble board with a person sitting across from them."

New Antivirus and Internet Security from Symantec

Symantec today launched Norton Antivirus 2008 and Norton Internet Security 2008. The latter also features Norton Identity Safe to protect users’ identities when they trade and browse online.

"Our 2008 products bring about new protection technologies to block threats before they get a foothold in the system. We have also made significant product improvements to enhance the end-user experience," said Vishal Dhupar, managing director, Symantec India.

Both products include SONAR behavioral detection technology that protects against malicious code. In Norton Internet Security 2008, SONAR (Symantec Online Network for Advanced Response) will run a full scan every time an application attempts outbound communication, further protecting identity information by improving the firewall’s effectiveness against unknown threats.

Norton Antivirus 2008 and Norton Internet Security 2008 are backed by Symantec Security Response, which provides customers with Internet security expertise. The security information is delivered to customers on a daily basis to ensure they remain fully protected.

The features of Norton Antivirus 2008 are threat interceptor browser defender, home network mapping, SONAR, enhanced internet worm protection, kernel level rootkit protection, optimized performance and one click support.

The product is available for Rs 1,719 for a one-PC license that includes a one-year service subscription to use the product and receive Symantec’s protection updates. It is also available in three, five and 10-user licenses available for Rs 2,579, Rs 3,869 and Rs 6,499 respectively.

The features of Norton Internet Security 2008 are threat interceptor browser defender, Norton identity safe, SONAR, phishing protection, SONAR smart firewall, protection for home networking, one-click support and improved performance.

The product is available for Rs 2,319 for a one PC license which includes a one-year service subscription to use the product and receive Symantec’s protection updates. It is also available in three- and five-user licenses available for Rs 3,009 and Rs 4,729 respectively.

On being asked why both the products are not integrated, Dhupar said,

"We want our users to choose whatever they want. Norton Antivirus 2008 is only for basic computer protection while Norton Internet Security 2008 is for overall Internet protection. We strongly recommend our users to buy Norton Internet Security 2008."

The system requirements for both products are:

• Windows Vista Home Basic/Home Premium/Business/Ultimate
• Windows XP with Service Pack 2 Home/XP Pro/XP Media Centre Edition
• 300 MHz or higher processor
• 265 MB of RAM
• 300MB of available hard disk space
• Email scanning supported for standard POP3 and SMTP-compatible e-mail clients
• Supported instant messenger clients like AOL – 4.7 to 5.9, Yahoo – 5.x to 6.x, Microsoft – 6.0 or higher and Trillian – 3.1 or higher
• Internet browsers (for phishing protection) – Internet Explorer 6.0 (32-bit only) and later and Mozilla Firefox 2.0 and later