Microsoft Reacts to Rumors on Windows Viruses

After F-Secure reported that an Austrian hacker has created the first family of viruses for Windows Vista, Microsoft says the reports are misleading.

According to F-Secure, the Austrian virus writer had published five proof-of-concept viruses that, in theory, could target Microsoft's scripting shell, code-named Monad, and also known as "MSH."

In a declaration for Microsoft Watch reporter, Mary Jo Foley, a spokeswoman from Microsoft's security team said that: "These potential viruses do not affect Windows Vista or any other version of Windows if 'Monad' has not been installed on the system. We have not yet announced a specific delivery vehicle for "Monad" in the Microsoft Windows operating system"

Moreover, according to Stephen Tolouse from Microsoft Security Response Center, Monad won't be included in Windows Vista. Writing on his blog about the Danom viruses, as F-Secure has named the virus family, Toulose said: "Furthermore, "Monad" is not widely available for general use. It's a beta, and we do not recommend or support the use of beta software in a production environment. Microsoft continues to analyze the feedback from testers as Monad continues to be developed.

But most important, Monad is not included in the beta release of Windows Vista or in Windows Server 2003 R2.

Monad will not be included in the final version of Windows Vista and there is no relation between Monad and Windows Vista Beta 1"