Security experts say that Windows users are unlikely to face any increased security risks as a result of a leak of Windows 2000 source code discovered on Thursday, mainly because it is a simple matter for hackers to find Windows vulnerabilities without recourse to the code.

On Thursday, a 203MB file containing some of Microsoft's closely guarded source code was published on the Internet, representing around 1 percent of the code base of Windows 2000, the enterprise operating system on which Windows XP is based.

David Emm, marketing manager at McAfee Avert, the antivirus company's research arm, told ZDNet UK that source code isn't necessary to plan an attack. "This has been amply demonstrated over the last few years," he said. "It is a bit like somebody wanting to break into my house -- they don't necessarily need the floorplans to in order to see that there is an open window or a drain pipe to climb."

By Munir Kotadia at ZDNet.

[ Read more ]