Hackers use brute force to crack Windows Vista's activation

Hackers have proclaimed victory over Microsoft's vaunted Windows Vista activation protection. The folks at Keznews forums say they have made a simple number guesser that takes a serial code and then tries to activate it through Microsoft's servers. It can take a while, but they say it eventually works.

Of course this can cause huge problems for Microsoft, not for its bottom line, but also for legitimate customers whose serial numbers are activated without their knowledge.

Humphrey Cheung was a senior editor at Tom's Hardware, covering a range of topics on computing and consumer electronics. You can find more of his work in many major publications, including CNN and FOX, to name a few.