You are at risk just by opening a piece of e-mail! Theoretically, this means someone can send you an e-mail with some clever VBScript (which we haven't discussed yet) and take control of your system. Remember, some of these controls are pre-installed, or come with Internet Explorer. You might think you are safe using code from well-respected companies such as Adobe or Microsoft, but controls such as the Acrobat Reader 4.0 control contained this bug. The net result of this bug is that it allows arbitrary code to be executed on a user's machine. The advisory for the buffer overrun bug was announced in September 1999, so companies that do not regularly upgrade their software are still at risk. There is a type of problem called a buffer overrun that seems to plague many ActiveX controls. This leaves all the data and control of a user's machine completely open for someone else if there is a permanent connection to the Internet.Īs mentioned earlier, if you have the latest versions of the software, these types of controls will be marked as unsafe for scripting and therefore will not run. Back Orifice allows complete control of another user's system.

The first item is especially interesting as it allows such devious software as the Back Orifice 2000 install program to be executed on the user's machine. ▪ĭelete any file from the local hard drive, including Windows system files so that a system could no longer be booted. Steal files from the hard disk and silently upload them to a remote site. ▪ĭisable Windows security checking, leaving the system open for future attacks. Install a computer virus or other software on a system. This allowed hackers to send malicious mail to someone with Outlook Express and as soon as they opened the e-mail the control could silently do any of the following: ▪ These controls have functions that allow reading and writing of hard drive data. In one interesting case, HP Pavilion systems shipped with two problem controls already installed: the System Wizard Launch Control and the Registry Access Control. All Windows systems are shipped with certain ActiveX controls already installed.

Activex for windows 10