Microsoft Exposes Network Hack

Microsoft Corp. issued a warning that a specific Internet attack could be used to divert Web traffic through a malicious proxy server, InfoWorld reports.

Windows Server 2003 and Windows 2000 SP 4 servers that use a Microsoft protocol called Web Proxy Automatic Discovery for automatically locating a data file (Wpad.dat) that browsers use to locate the proxy server may be in danger, according to Microsoft, which posted on its support site how administrators can configure servers to avoid the problem.

Proxy servers are often used by organizations as gatekeeper devices to the Web to enforce content use policies.