[Note] hackers may launch attacks by using Windows automatic updates.

Computerworld reported that researchers from Symentec, a well-known computer security company, recently said they found that hackers are attempting to use the transfer components of Windows Update to bypass the firewall and spread malware.

Anyone familiar with the windows Update mechanism knows that the Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) is a Background Service used by Windows Update, starting from Windows XP, you must enable Windows 2003 or even the latest Windows Vista to complete automatic updates. It provides automatic asynchronous file transfer, so that the download of Windows Update updates does not affect other network applications.

Elia Florio, a researcher at Symentec's security response team, said: "This is a very effective component that supports Http and programming through the com api. It is the best tool for Windows to download everything. Unfortunately, this includes malware. Part of the BITS operating system, trusted by all local firewalls, can bypass them to download anything ."

That is why hackers are interested. If you can transfer files to the target using Windows Update in the same way, it is undoubtedly the best way to spread Trojans and malware. Symantec first found a post discussing this intrusion method at the Russian hacker forum at the end of last year, and a trojan program in March this year was the first malware to put this idea into practice.

Symentec researchers believe that although hackers are attempting to hijack the BITS Service, it is not a problem. Their suggestion is to increase the permission level for allowing access to the BITS interface, or restrict BITS download tasks to specific secure URLs, such as downloading from the Microsoft website only. The researchers also said the hijacking attempt showed that hackers' work is becoming modularized and learning from the traditional software development industry to form their own development models.

At present, Microsoft has not responded to the potential abuse of BITS.