British parliament attacked using WMF exploit

["Richard M. Smith" <rms () computerbytesman com>]

Makes one wonder if were any successful infections of government computers
that are not protected by MessageLabs.

Richard


http://news.com.com/British+parliament+attacked+using+WMF+exploit/2100-7349_
3-6029691.html?tag=nefd.top

The British Parliament was attacked late last year by hackers who tried to
exploit a recent serious Microsoft Windows flaw, security experts confirmed
on Friday.

MessageLabs, the e-mail-filtering provider for the U.K. government, told
ZDNet UK that targeted e-mails were sent to various individuals within
government departments in an attempt to take control of their computers. The
e-mails harbored an exploit for the Windows Meta File vulnerability. 

The attack occurred over the Christmas period and came from China, said Mark
Toshack, manager of antivirus operations at MessageLabs, who added that the
e-mails were intercepted before they reached the government's systems. 

"The attack definitely came from China--we know that because we log the IP
addresses. The U.K. Government was targeted but none (of the e-mails) got
through. No one was affected. They were attacked, but they (the government)
didn't know about it until we told them," Toshack said.

...
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