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Win98 Security Bug More Serious Than Previously Thought

A few days ago I posted two articles discussing a newly-found bug in Windows 98, Excel 97, and Word 97 that allows a PC's Globally Unique Identifier (GUID), a hardware serial number that is unique to each PC, to be attached to files. This would allow a spreadsheet or document to possibly be traced back to a specific author. In addition, the GUID is passed to Microsoft during routine software registration procedures, even when the user explicitly requests that information not be transmitted to Microsoft Corp.

These two articles generated quite a firestorm of response from ITINFO subscribers, and I've kept an eye out for more developments. Here's what I just found: your computer's GUID can be passed to any unscrupulous website operator (not just to Microsoft), if you use Windows 98 and Internet Explorer 4.x.

This means that websites can track your activities without error because you're publishing the unique ID number of your PC. Intel has taken a big PR hit in the past month with the new ID code built into early Pentium III chips. But hats off to Microsoft, they figured out how to get the same perfect result last year, and privacy advocates missed it. Win98 users have been at risk of publishing their activities because of the GUID - the unique ID code within each of our PCs.

To see a demonstration of the GUID problem, use Win98 and IE4 to visit a demonstration page created by Richard Smith, the programmer who I reported last week first discovered the GUID problem.

Microsoft Corp.

Articles In This Series

Previous issues are on our website at http://itrain.org/itinfo/.

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updated March 10, 1999