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 The future of trust—no more playing catch up Broadcom: 2023 Tech Trends That Transform IT By Eric Chien, Director of Security Response, Symantec Enterprise Division, Broadcom Mar 31, 2023 5 mins Security BrandPost TCS gives Blackhawk Network an edge with Microsoft Cloud In this case study, Blackhawk Network’s Cara Renfroe joins Tata Consultancy Services’ Rakesh Kumar and Microsoft’s Nilendu Pattanaik to explain how TCS transformed the gift card company’s customer engagement and global operati By Tata Consultancy Services Mar 31, 2023 1 min Financial Services Industry Cloud Computing IT Leadership BrandPost How TCS pioneered the ‘borderless workspace’ with Microsoft 365 Microsoft’s modern workplace solution proved a perfect fit for improving productivity and collaboration, while maintaining security of systems and data. By Tata Consultancy Services Mar 31, 2023 1 min Financial Services Industry Microsoft Cloud Computing BrandPost Supply chain decarbonization: The missing link to net zero By improving the quality of global supply chain data, enterprises can better measure their true carbon footprint and make progress toward a net-zero business ecosystem. By Tata Consultancy Services Mar 31, 2023 2 mins Retail Industry Supply Chain Green IT 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