Microsoft security suit seeks class-action

By Matt Whipp

Posted on 3 Oct 2003 at 13:03

Microsoft is at the wrong end of a suit alleging its software is vulnerable to viruses and seeking unspecified damages plus legal costs. The suit may attain class-action status.

The complaint, filed on Tuesday on behalf of Californian film editor Marcy Levitas Hamilton, alleges unfair competition and infringement of two of the state's consumer laws, adding that Microsoft's security alerts are too technical for the end-user to understand and are released too early, giving virus writers time to exploit them.

Microsoft said: 'Our intent would be to actively defend their attempt to justify a class action. The case misses the point. The problems caused by viruses are the result of criminal acts by virus writers. Microsoft has made a commitment to developing the most secure software possible.'

Antivirus vendor Sophos's head of corporate communications said: 'I'm a little sceptical myself about cases like these. I wonder whether it's the lawyers getting rich. So, I don't know whether we can take these things too seriously - perhaps we should deploy our anti-lawyer software!'

He said that Microsoft does appear to be improving its security measures, both in technical terms and information: 'Computers are now available to much less technical people, but Microsoft has been taking out full page adverts in the national press reminding people to protect their PCs.'

As for the nature of Microsoft's alerts, he had this to say: 'Maybe it's the job of antivirus software to explain viruses in an manner that's easy to understand... Even so [Microsoft's security alerts] are not a cook book on how to recreate the vulnerability and then write a trojan or virus.'

He also suggested that cases such as these might be a spring board for consumers to launch similar suits against the providers of Internet access: the ISPs. They should be doing a better job of screening out viruses than they currently do, he said.

Microsoft's Protect your PC Campaign can be found at www.microsoft.com/protect.