REDMOND, Wash.—Microsoft security engineer Robert Hensing had a question for the hundreds of his company’s developers seated before him: can a person’s PC become infected with a rootkit simply by opening a PowerPoint file?

In the packed conference center, a smattering of developers raise their hands. Nearby, in an adjacent room, where hackers invited to speak at Microsoft’s Blue Hat conference watch the presentations on TV, an entire table of hands go up.

“That’s one thing I want you to take away from this,” Hensing tells the Microsoft developers. “Applications are dangerous.”

“We’re attacking today’s problems. We certainly have to do that. We also need to get ahead.”—Matt Thomlinson, head of security engineering efforts, Microsoft
Indeed, even though Microsoft has spent a fortune securing Windows, experts say that hackers are moving beyond the operating system. Threats such as rootkits, which can corrupt an operating system, can now be transferred by applications or Web-based programs. A new crop of Web-connected mobile devices represent another emerging threat.

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