Customer data at Microsoft exposed
Posted by NTUsEr on 10 October 2001 - 21:35 · no comments & 99 views
A computer security researcher known for discovering serious leaks of private information at major U.S. companies has found one at Microsoft Corp.’s Web site. The researcher showed MSNBC.com several screen shots he had taken revealing Microsoft customer addresses, phone numbers, and what they ordered. Microsoft admitted the exposure and said it had immediately corrected the problem.
It was not clear how many records the researcher accessed, or which Microsoft customers were affected — but the list was apparently sizeable. “Well, this information is alarmingly accurate,” said one customer when informed of the data found by the researcher. The customer, who asked his name be withheld, had placed an order Dec. 29 for a free CD-ROM full of programs for his brand-new Journada, a Christmas gift. Other order snapshots provided to MSNBC.com show pricey orders for Microsoft Software Developer Network CD-Roms — with price tags of up to $2,500 — placed by a Hewlett Packard employee and a worker at Verticalworks.com.

News source: MSNBC

Plus, the carriers would have to cooperate with one another to implement the global roaming software, an obstacle some analysts think could be more difficult to overcome than creating the actual technology.

"The technology solution is the easy part," said Shiv Bhakshi, a wireless analyst with IDC. "It's not easy what Lucent is doing, but that's essentially the easy part. Finding agreement on business principals, that's the difficult part."

But Jim Gerace, a spokesman for Verizon Wireless, said he thought the carriers would likely work together if the technology was developed. "We'll see," he said. "That's far in the future."

There are other problems for carriers as well, since adding the COPS gear to the networks will increase costs. Most already are spending billions to build new telephone networks that would make possible high-speed, always-on connections at speeds similar to what broadband Internet connections offer. Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo launched the world's first high-speed network earlier this month. AT&T has launched a portion of its network. Most other US carriers expect to do the same by year's end.

Some carriers, especially in Europe, are already financially teetering and are working to share the same networks they are building in order to trim costs.

Leading US wireless carrier Verizon is working with Lucent to create a way for Verizon's 28 million US subscribers, which use a CDMA network, to make calls on the networks of its parent company, Vodafone, which uses a GSM network, Gerace said.

The two companies combined have about 210 million wireless subscribers, more than a fifth of the mobile phone customers in the world.


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