Microsoft denies report of NT breach April 2, 1997 Web posted at: 1:10 a.m. EST SEATTLE (Reuter) -- A Microsoft Corp. executive has denied an industry report that the software giant's high-end Windows NT operating system was vulnerable to a new password-cracking code being circulated on the Internet. EE Times Online, the online version of a weekly CMP Media Inc. trade newspaper, reported that the code could enable a user to unscramble a list of passwords on a computer hard drive from a remote location. "If somebody wanted to crack an NT server today, for malicious purposes or financial gain, the pieces of the puzzle are now all there," consultant Yobie Benjamin of Cambridge Technology Partners told the publication. Microsoft's Rich Tong denied in an interview Monday that the code-cracking "hack," distributed by electronic mail and posted on the Internet, represented a new threat. "This particular hack, if you will, relies on the hacker cracking the administrator's password from the get-go," said Tong, vice president of marketing for personal business systems. "You can't do anything if you don't have the administrator's password." He said Microsoft recommends appropriate security measures, including passwords that contain letters, numbers and symbols rather than simple words from a dictionary. He also recommended that system administrators use their administration accounts only when needed to minimize exposure to hackers. Copyright 1997Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.