Business in brief: Excel programs get hacked
Microsoft Corp. said hackers have found a way to use some older versions of its Excel spreadsheet program to take control of people’s computers.
Microsoft said late Tuesday that it is investigating reports of such attacks but has not yet determined whether it will patch the hole.
People who open a specially crafted Excel file from an e-mail attachment or visit a compromised Web site could be inviting hackers to take over their PCs for malicious purposes such as stealing passwords and other personal information or sending out spam. Microsoft Office Excel 2003 Service Pack 2, Excel Viewer 2003, Excel 2002, Excel 2000 and Excel 2004 for Mac all contain the security hole.
The software maker said users of these programs can protect their computers by using a tool called Microsoft Office Isolated Conversion Environment that scans the files for bad code before opening.
The most recent versions of the spreadsheet program, Excel 2007, Excel 2007 SP 1 and Excel 2008 for Mac, are not thought to be affected, Microsoft said.
SPOKANE
Paper company gets green award
The Spokane Regional Clean Air Agency awarded its 2008 Clean Air Award on Wednesday to Inland Empire Paper Co., of Millwood.
The award is given to organizations that make a commitment to reduce air emissions. Bill Dameworth, director of Spokane Clean Air, said Inland Empire Paper was recognized for multiple upgrades that have improved efficiency of the paper manufacturing process as well as reduced air pollution emissions.
For example, its energy-efficient paper machine uses heat recovery and reuses water to minimize energy and water usage. Also, about half of the pulp used to make the paper is from recycled newsprint, and the other half is made from waste wood chips from local sawmills.
Inland Empire Paper is a subsidiary of Cowles Co., which also owns Cowles Publishing Co., publisher of The Spokesman-Review. It makes 525 tons of newsprint and specialty paper products daily.
SEATTLE
Cable company changes pricing
Time Warner Cable will experiment with a pricing structure for high-speed Internet access later this year that charges customers based on how much data they download, a company spokesman said Wednesday.
The company, the second-largest cable provider in the United States and a provider in North Idaho, will start a trial in Beaumont, Texas, in which it will sell new Internet customers tiered levels of service based on how much data they download per month, rather than the usual fixed-price packages with unlimited downloads.
Company spokesman Alex Dudley said the trial was aimed at improving network performance by making it more costly for heavy users of large downloads. Dudley said that a small group of super-heavy users of downloads, about 5 percent of the customer base, can account for up to 50 percent of network capacity.
From staff and wire reports