A new vulnerability has been found in Microsoft’s Excel spreadsheet program, just a few days after the company fixed problems with several of its applications in its monthly patch distribution.One customer reported an attack using the vulnerability, which comes from an e-mail with a malicious Excel document attached, wrote Mike Reavey, Microsoft security program manager, on the company’s security blog. The blog post did not give further details on what the malware does when downloaded. The blog post can be found here.Reavey noted that the e-mail application should prompt users to take care if they attempt to open the attachment. He cautioned against opening unsolicited documents, whomever they come from. Microsoft has updated its own Windows Live Safety Center, a Web-based antivirus and performance-improvement service now in beta release, to detect documents attempting to exploit the vulnerability, and also shared the information with security partners, Reavey wrote.“We’ve got the Office team engaged, of course, and they are hard at work investigating the vulnerability,” Reavey wrote. On Tuesday, Microsoft issued 12 updates for 21 vulnerabilities, one of the company’s largest patch handouts for applications including Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, Word, PowerPoint and Windows Media Player.Observers noted the patches affected mostly client-side applications. Of the 21 vulnerabilities, 19 could have allowed a hacker to gain remote control over a computer and possibly corrupt or steal data. — Jeremy Kirk, IDG News Service (London Bureau)Related Links: Bill Gates to Leave Day-To-Day Role in 2008 Is Microsoft’s Size a Benefit or Burden? A Win for Microsoft in Massachusetts?This article is posted on our Microsoft Informer page. For more news on the Redmond, Wash.-based powerhouse, keep checking in.Check out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content brandpost Sponsored by SAP Generative AI’s ‘show me the money’ moment We’re past the hype and slick gen AI sales pitches. Business leaders want results. By Julia White Nov 30, 2023 5 mins Artificial Intelligence brandpost Sponsored by Zscaler How customers capture real economic value with zero trust Unleashing economic value: Zscaler's Zero Trust Exchange transforms security architecture while cutting costs. By Zscaler Nov 30, 2023 4 mins Security brandpost Sponsored by SAP A cloud-based solution to rescue millions from energy poverty Aware of the correlation between energy and financial poverty, Savannah Energy is helping to generate clean, competitively priced electricity across Africa by integrating its old systems into one cloud-based platform. By Keith E. Greenberg, SAP Contributor Nov 30, 2023 5 mins Digital Transformation feature 8 change management questions every IT leader must answer Designed to speed adoption and achieve business outcomes, change management hasn’t historically been a strength of IT orgs. It’s time to flip that script by asking hard questions to hone change strategies. By Stephanie Overby Nov 30, 2023 10 mins Change Management Change Management IT Operations Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe