A denial-of-service attack rendered Microsoft"s corporate Web site inaccessible for more than an hour on Friday afternoon, amid heightened fears that a major Internet attack could be on the horizon.
Microsoft"s Web site became largely inaccessible at about 12:50 p.m. PST, according to reader reports received by CNET News.com. The site appeared to be back up and running around 2:15 p.m.
The outage occurred as system administrators and security experts were bracing for a potentially large Internet attack. The U.S. federal government warned earlier this week that an attack could be brewing that exploits a widespread flaw in Microsoft"s Windows operating system.
Microsoft spokesman Sean Sundwall said Microsoft was the victim of a denial-of-service attack, but he stressed that no Windows vulnerability was exploited.