Microsoft starts the year off with a bang!

Well they say how you start is generally how you finish. Let's hope not for Microsoft in 2006. For they've started with one heck of a virus scandal.

The flaw, which allows hackers to infect computers using programs maliciously inserted into seemingly innocuous image files, was first discovered last week. But the potential for damaging attacks increased dramatically at the weekend after a group of computer hackers published the source code they used to exploit it. Unlike most attacks, which require victims to download or execute a suspect file, the new vulnerability makes it possible for users to infect their computers with spyware or a virus simply by viewing a web page, e-mail or instant message that contains a contaminated image.

And any version of Windows is apparently under threat. Microsoft are so taken aback by this attack that they can't produce a patch until at least 10 Jan. And they even seem to be promoting various work arounds, including ones produced by programmers not employed by Microsoft! Corporate IT managers will be running scared.

And poor old Microsoft was only a few weeks ago trumpeting how successfful they were in 2005 at stemming the tide of endless Microsoft hackers. And 2006 is the year that Windows gets revolutionised with both live.com and Windows latest edition, Vista. Both could actually make Windows even more vulnerable. Let's see. In the mean time, watch out there's a hacker about...