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Hotmail pulls Attach-Photo feature over security concerns

Stealth suspension explained

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Microsoft has suspended the "Attach-Photo" feature in Hotmail as a result of security concerns.

Webmail users can still add photos as attachments to Hotmail messages, just not in the same way as before. Microsoft expects to restore the suspended feature by the end of September.

Microsoft spoke about the recent suspension in postings to the Windows Live blog here and help pages here on Thursday.

Redmond explains the feature was suspended after testing unearthed a security glitch involving the interaction of its feature with IE.

Some of you may have noticed that lately, you can no longer add photos directly into the body of a Windows Live Hotmail message the way you used to do. The Windows Live team is constantly reviewing Hotmail to ensure quality service to our customers.

During a recent review, we identified an incompatibility with Internet Explorer that caused a security flaw with photo uploads, and we made the decision to temporarily remove the feature.

The Hotmail team takes security very seriously and we expect to bring back the photo upload feature by the end of September. In the meantime, you can still add pictures as attachments to your Hotmail messages, by clicking Attach, and then selecting the picture you want to include.

Microsoft apologised for any inconvenience resulting from the suspension. The feature was actually pulled around four weeks ago (since 24 July or thereabouts) but Microsoft only went public on Thursday. In the interim many users expressed confusion and frustration in Hotmail forums.

The technology was reportedly pulled because of a dodgy ActiveX control but no further information is available at the time of writing. Reading between the lines, it looks like Microsoft will address the flaw with an IE update during the September edition of Patch Tuesday followed by the restoration of the feature a few weeks later. It almost goes without saying but this timetable is subject to change. ®

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Latest Comments

@ Jelliphiish

Nope that's a standard Hotmail security feature, they block anything that's relayed through an alternate source - such as a mobile phone mail server (if your email address is not with that mobile phone company). As a result an awful lot of people can no longer email hotmail accounts on the go and the only way to fix this is to get MS to add your email to a list, except there's no direct way to do that and their help center is as useless as the proverbial wet paper bag.

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So...

MS pulled a feature from one of its websites because its browser had a bug.

Presumably MS are not the only people capable of writing code to exploit this bug, so did they also issue a security advisory for IE last month? If not, this stinks.

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oh no not again...

the old ***.jpg.exe problem with microsoft apps completely unable to differentiate content and having to stupidly rely on the first three characters after the first period...

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