Windows 7 doomed from beginning - unfixable hack?

During the currently running Hack in the Box security conference in Dubai on Thursday, researchers Vipin Kumar and Nitin Kumar have said that they have created a method of hacking Windows 7 that is unfixable by the folks over in Redmond.

According to the report by Electronista, VBootkit 2.0 was used to show how Windows 7 could be compromised during boot up. The exploit is said to be suited only to the upcoming Microsoft operating system and according to the makers, probably won't be fixable.




The program is said to be just 3KB big and it allows hackers to change important system files which are loading into memory during the boot up process. Since no data is alerted on the hard drive itself, it is hard to detect and of course even harder to remove. Once the system has been rebooted, the security thread is removed, since it is only stored in dynamic system memory, which does not retain data on power loss or reboot.

Via the software, hackers can remotely control the targeted computer and change their access level to the highest possible. Passwords can also be removed, letting hackers access a victim's files. What's more, the password is restored, so victims are unaware their security was breached.

As the name implies, VBootkit 2.0 is the second such program developed by Vipin and Nitin, as the original was demonstrated back in 2007 and exposed a vulnerability in Windows Vista.

Microsoft hasn't commented on the exploit.