Question about automatic updates

From: Ed (vessel_at_usc.edu)
Date: 07/31/03 

Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2003 13:22:19 -0700

Hi there -

I have a general question about the automatic update
feature of Windows XP (i.e. the "new updates are available"
info bubble).

I am a pretty security conservative person and would
typically shy away from any update system which
automatically contacts me due to the possibility that it
could be spoofed. However, XP is so insistent about its
update process that I have caved in and allow it to
download updates.

My question is ... are there any known viruses, trojan
horses, etc. out there which are known to exploit this?
I.e., is it at all possible that someone could have opened
an email attachment or visited a website with an auto
download that would then proceed to masquerade as the XP
automatic update service in the future to download or
upload data? The reason I ask is because the nature of the
explanation of the downloaded security patches are often so
vague that I often feel powerless to know if I really need
something or if I should ignore it and seek out security
patches on my own when I hear about them.

thanks,
Ed

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