OpenOffice hits back at viral risk claims

OpenOffice.org has hit back at claims that its applications are riddled with security holes, The Register reports.

Researchers at the French Ministry of Defense say that OpenOffice is subject to security weaknesses that make it at least as susceptible to computer viruses as the commercial, more widely used, Microsoft Office.

The French research paper looked at four proof-of-concept viruses and a variety of attack scenarios before concluding that the “general security of OpenOffice is insufficient,” according to an IDG report. The developers behind the open source desktop productivity suite say a software bug discovered by the French researchers has already been fixed.

“The one real flaw in the programming logic has been fixed,” Louis Suarez-Potts, an OpenOffice.org community manager, told IDG. “The others are theoretical.”

OpenOffice.org has opened up a dialog with the French researchers with the aim of improving the overall security of the software suite.