- A teenager who discovered a security hole in Windows
and worked with Redmond for six months to fix the problem has received
his reward from the multi-billion dollar company: a mere note of thanks
on its website.
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- 19-year-old Matt Thompson from Aberdeen was newly employed
with a local IT firm after leaving college when he discovered the security
hole in the Jet Database Engine - which if exploited would have let hackers
take control of a user's PC and given virus writers reason to smile.
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- He stumbled across the error while working on a database
project for a client and, after crashing a server, realised something was
amiss.
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- After several calls to various helpdesks with Thompson
explaining that he wasn't a domestic user with a toolbar problem but had
actually found a security error that needed fixing, Microsoft took his
complaints seriously.
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- Half a year of code-swapping and collaboration later
and the problem was sorted, with Thompson being sworn to secrecy over his
security sleuthing achievements.
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- Gates and co issued the now-customary update and let
customers know, but when the dust had settled, instead of bunging the teenage
boffin a few quid from the bulging Microsoft coffers for his work, the
software firm took a more low-key approach to their security saviour's
work.
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- It added his name to the list of special acknowledgements
on the corporate site.
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- While, according to reports, Thompson is quite chuffed
to have worked with the software giant, many people have been left wondering
if a company that can absorb a Ä497m fine without breaking stride
could have given the tech whizzkid a cash sum for his trouble.
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- Copyright 2004 CNet Networks, Inc.
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- http://software.silicon.com/security/0,39024655,39120038,00.htm
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