Microsoft WGA phones home?

[matt]

Analysts over at the German web site Heise Online have uncovered a curious behavior with the latest Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) update. The update is intended to patch the latest hole that hackers have used to work around the WGA utility, which checks to see if the users' copy of Windows is genuine or pirated. According to tests conducted with an Ethernet sniffer program, if the user clicks the close button to cancel the installation of this WGA update, Windows sends some information back to Microsoft over the wires.

This information includes version numbers of both Windows and WGA, the language of the operating system, some registry information, and a cookie. Some hackers are worried that Microsoft is going to use this information to identify potential pirates, but Microsoft claims that the data is only used to try and diagnose failures with the WGA utility itself. The outgoing data can be blocked, if desired, by personal firewall software or hardware router.

SOurce: Ars Technica

[AlienWarrior]

unbelievable.

[noobsauce]

anyone know what address should i block on my router?

[Yamatetsu]

Here ist the english version of the Heise news:

Heise engl

and here is a msoft blog about the WGA:

Blog

anyone know what address should i block on my router?

try 207.46.236.175 (genuine.microsoft.com)

[Radiance]

M$...... :S

E.T. phone home