Shout hacking: Vista’s first security flaw?

Shout hacking: Vista’s first security flaw?

Microsoft launched the Vista operating system earlier this week. However, the honeymoon period for the operating system product seems to be already over as the reports in the media are talking about a possible flaw that could allow remote attackers to take advantage of the new operating system’s speech recognition feature.

Market experts are calling this flaw Shout Hacking.

Microsoft said that their researchers are currently investigating the reports of a vulnerability that could allow an attacker to use the speech recognition feature to run malicious programs on Vista systems. Reports suggest that these kinds of commands can be activated using prerecorded verbal commands.

A blogger George Ou had originally claimed that he was able to access the Vista Start menu and, conceivably, run programs using voice commands played over the system’s speakers. Microsoft said that the impact of the flaw, however, is expected to be small. Users are required to have the speech recognition feature enabled and have a microphone and speakers connected to their system.