Flaws in Windows operating system

St Petersburg News.Net
Monday 19th November, 2007

Serious flaws in Microsoft's Windows operating systems have been found by Israeli computer scientists.

The flaw allows for the tracking of all text typed into computers with Windows operating systems, including emails, passwords and credit card numbers.

The security loophole allows criminals to access information on personal computers through the random number generator in Windows.

Any text correspondence which requires a password, such as a bank, invokes a random number generator to create a random encryption key.

The Israeli research team have found a way to decipher how the random number generator works, consequently giving them the ability to eavesdrop on private communications through the Internet.

The researchers said that they have already notified Microsoft's security response team about their discovery.

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