This was posted on "Wired.com" a link that was on Operas home page.
Microsoft's soft security: Microsoft said a security breach in its Passport online identity service had exposed personal information, e-mail accounts and registered credit card information for an undisclosed number of users.
The world's largest software maker (MSFT) said it had already fixed the flaw, which affected potentially all of its active 200 million Passport accounts.
The disclosure of the security loophole and the breach comes as Microsoft pushes to make its software more secure, in part to head off fines from regulators and the loss of important government business.
Muhammad Faisal Rauf Danka, a computer consultant in Pakistan, discovered the flaw that let hackers hijack a Passport account by typing in a specific Web address containing 'emailpwdreset' to reset an account holder's password, the company said. The feature was originally meant to allow users to regain access to their account if they had forgotten the password.
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