Microsoft knew about the weakness in its security three months before it was hacked, but failed to do anything about it, according to a speaker at the Compsec conference in London.

James Adams, CEO of iDefense, a computer security company, has said he warned the software giant about the vulnerability three months ago. "They could have closed the door," he said.

He was giving a keynote speech on the changing nature of war. He said that there had been a proliferation, matching the speed of the digital revolution, of conflict in the virtual space. He cited the LoveBug virus and the Microsoft hack as two prime examples of this conflict.

The Microsoft hack was accomplished by breaking through the firewall via a remote worker's machine and using this as a platform from which to launch the attacks, he said. Microsoft claims that no source code was compromised, but the debate rages on.

At the time of writing no one from Microsoft was able to confirm or deny the allegations. ®

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