

While such a breach of security is an embarrassment for Microsoft, its cost in dollars is likely to be minimal, some market watchers said. In afternoon Nasdaq trading Friday, shares of Microsoft were up $3.88 at $68.31.
#Hacker website wallpaper 2000 software
However, he said "it would be tantamount to suicide" for competitors to exploit illegally obtained information about Microsoft code for their commercial benefit.Īlthough the company strives to preserve the confidentiality of how its software is put together, Microsoft shares the code for Windows among partner companies that write software to fit the Windows operating system. "If someone can get the jump on where Microsoft is going next - or, as it puts it where it wants to go today - can steal a march and get ahead," said Gary Grant, director of global operations at computer security system provider Defcom in London. Industry experts said that getting access to confidential information from Microsoft's internal network could theoretically be of benefit to the software giant's competitors. The hackers could also try to blackmail Microsoft into paying to win back any purloined code - what industry experts call a "data hostage" ploy. While the hackers may not have tampered with the software, access to the underlying code could have enabled them to write their own software, or sell the code to other unscrupulous operators. Microsoft declined to estimate the cost to the company, but the incident highlights the vulnerability of Microsoft's intellectual property. A London spokesman for Microsoft found signs the intrusion "may have come from St.

Ī person close to the matter told the hackers could have had access to internal systems for as many as 60 days. In an interview on CNNfn's Moneyline News Hour Friday, Ira Winkler, president of Internet Security Advisers Group, said Microsoft's statements that the incident will not have any impact on its products or customers may be premature. "I can assure you that we know that there has been no compromise of the integrity of the source code," he added.īut some security experts aren't so sure. "It is clear that hackers did see some of our source code," Ballmer told Microsoft programmers and reporters at a seminar in Stockholm. Microsoft Chief Executive Officer and President Steve Ballmer, speaking in Stockholm, Sweden, where he was attending a conference, said hackers had seen but not managed to change key source codes, according to a Reuters report. Microsoft, though, said it had "no information yet" on whether anything was stolen. What they appear to have had access to is the source code for products in development "years and years away," the spokesman said.

The source code for a software application contains the readable building blocks that enable a program to do its job.Ī Microsoft spokesman told CNNfn Friday afternoon that they did not see any source code for the company's major products including Windows 2000 and Office. The Wall Street Journal first reported Monday that the unknown hackers were believed to have gained access to the source code to its most valuable software, including latest versions of Windows and Office. The company said the hackers' motive is not yet known. Federal Bureau of Investigation to track down the culprits while buckling down its security systems to prevent a recurrence of such incidents, said a spokesman. Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft ( MSFT: Research, Estimates) said it had not yet found any damage from the raid on its network, and is working with the U.S. LONDON (CNNfn) - Hackers gained access to some of Microsoft Corp.'s essential product secrets, the world's most powerful technology company said Friday, acknowledging a security breach that is a major embarrassment for the software company and its wealthy chairman, Bill Gates.
#Hacker website wallpaper 2000 cracked
Raiders cracked into networks, but software titan plays down the damage
