Earth Walker
August 22nd, 2001, 12:03 AM
A group of malicious hackers has attacked Microsoft's Hotmail
e-mail system, opening a path that allows anyone with Internet
access to eavesdrop on hundreds of millions of Hotmail messages.
The group, called Root Core, has designed a computer program
that bypasses Hotmail security and allows a person to peek at the
e-mail in any one of 110 million Hotmail accounts.
Root Core posted the mischievous program on its Web site last
week where it was downloaded numerous times, quickly spreading across the Internet.
No one from Microsoft was available for an official comment
Monday, but a spokesman said the software giant was aware of
the problem and that it was trying to stop Root Core from
performimg further damage.
Once a person logs into their own Hotmail account, the Root
Core program can be used to scan a person's e-mails, by
inputting only the person's user name.
The program exploits a flaw in the way Hotmail organizes its
e-mail messages.
By typing in a person's user name the Root Core program will
automatically use the flaw to tap into that person's e-mail box,
presenting their e-mails one-by-one to the mischievous voyeur.
"My advice is that you travel under the assumption that people
are looking at your e-mail," said Al Decker, director of EDSGlobal's
security and privacy services. "You can never have 100% security."
Decker said privacy software like Pretty Good Protection, or other encryption programs should be used by people to try and
protect their e-mail from prying eyes.
This is not the first time that the security of the Hotmail system
has been compromised.
Earlier this year another group of hackers devised a method to
break into Hotmail's database of e-mail addresses and download
millions of Hotmail e-mail addresses.
Those addresses were then sold to companies who sent out
tons of junk e-mails to millions of Hotmail users.
The move prompted Microsoft to quickly revamp it's Hotmail
security and install a new filter that is designed to weed out
the unwanted junk mail.
e-mail system, opening a path that allows anyone with Internet
access to eavesdrop on hundreds of millions of Hotmail messages.
The group, called Root Core, has designed a computer program
that bypasses Hotmail security and allows a person to peek at the
e-mail in any one of 110 million Hotmail accounts.
Root Core posted the mischievous program on its Web site last
week where it was downloaded numerous times, quickly spreading across the Internet.
No one from Microsoft was available for an official comment
Monday, but a spokesman said the software giant was aware of
the problem and that it was trying to stop Root Core from
performimg further damage.
Once a person logs into their own Hotmail account, the Root
Core program can be used to scan a person's e-mails, by
inputting only the person's user name.
The program exploits a flaw in the way Hotmail organizes its
e-mail messages.
By typing in a person's user name the Root Core program will
automatically use the flaw to tap into that person's e-mail box,
presenting their e-mails one-by-one to the mischievous voyeur.
"My advice is that you travel under the assumption that people
are looking at your e-mail," said Al Decker, director of EDSGlobal's
security and privacy services. "You can never have 100% security."
Decker said privacy software like Pretty Good Protection, or other encryption programs should be used by people to try and
protect their e-mail from prying eyes.
This is not the first time that the security of the Hotmail system
has been compromised.
Earlier this year another group of hackers devised a method to
break into Hotmail's database of e-mail addresses and download
millions of Hotmail e-mail addresses.
Those addresses were then sold to companies who sent out
tons of junk e-mails to millions of Hotmail users.
The move prompted Microsoft to quickly revamp it's Hotmail
security and install a new filter that is designed to weed out
the unwanted junk mail.