Thanks Tony. Brian Valentine says he's not proud. The senior vice president in charge of Microsoft's Windows development team has reason not to be. One of his most notable works, the Windows 2000 operating system, has a security record that is nothing to boast about. In fact, it's downright dismal, many experts say. Security bulletins warning of holes and vulnerabilities in Microsoft operating systems are a regular occurrence. Late Wednesday, the company released a bulletin warning of a flaw in its digital certificate technology that could allow attackers to steal a user's credit card information. It is the second security bulletin to be issued this month.

In August, Microsoft warned in one of eight security bulletins issued that month, that many of its customers have experienced "an increased amount of hacking," in their various Windows systems. The Redmond, Wash., company has yet to identify the root of the problem, only saying that it has noticed some major similarities between the string of hack attacks. "As of August 2002, the PSS [Product Support Services] Security Team has not been able to determine the technique that is being used to gain access to the computer," the company wrote in its security bulletin posted on August 30. In short, Microsoft is stumped.