Software giant Microsoft faces a string of potential lawsuits after admitting a serious flaw in its operating system, claimed a report.
Microsoft said a glitch in the programming language of Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP could allow hackers to break into computers, steal files, delete data or browse through sensitive data.
The company did say, however, that there was no evidence of any attacks based on the flaw having occurred.
According to a report, Stephen Philippsohn, a specialist in combating fraud and computer crime, said Microsoft now faced claims from users affected as a result of the flaw.
"Any business that suffered could well have a good case to sue Microsoft," said Philippsohn. "It seems they knew about it and didn't take reasonable steps. That is very important."
Microsoft, which was alerted to the security problem in July 2003, has now released a downloadable `patch' to repair the problem.
