If you’ve installed any Excel plugins such as Excel Calendar Template, then be warned that Microsoft have identified a new vulnerability in Excel that could allow hackers to take control of your machine. As usual however, the company will not put a date on a fix but say they are ‘working on it’.
The vulnerability affects all Excel versions after Office 2000 including Office 2004 for Mac. The vulnerability is exploited when hackers run a code by inserting a series of special characters inside any Excel file. The exploit can then be used to take over the rest of your machine. What’s worse, whilst Microsoft currently believe it is limited to Excel, its possible that it could affect other Office components such as Word, Outlook and Powerpoint.
Microsoft has recently employed a policy called “Patch Tuesday” where it issues fixes on a monthly basis rather than fixing problems on an as-they-happen basis. However, maybe the seriousness of this hole may prompt it into reverting back to its old ad-hoc system.
