“The Remote Assistance tool in Windows XP Professional lets you get hands-on help from a tech-savvy friend, family member, or support professional who also runs Windows XP. The expert can be in the next room, or the next time zone. As long as you have an online connection, your helper can remotely take control of your computer. You can watch and chat in real time as he or she fixes your problem. Remote Assistance is secure because you give control only to a trusted individual, and you can take back control anytime.”
The above is direct quote from MS.
My question is how many weeks will it be before a program is distributed tapping into this built-in opportunity for unauthorized intruders to take complete control of many computers? Now only modification of the existing software should suffice to have an excellent backdoor open.
Will Antivirus and Trojan detection software recognize when you turn on “Remote Assistant” or will it just turn a blind eye to it’s activity?
This sounds like a pretty spooky feature. I hope it’s not turned on by default when installing….