Computer Security Weekly, April 17, 2000

Did you know that there is a flight simulator concealed in Microsoft Excel 97? To access this game use the following (presented by Larry Werring in RISKS Digest 19.53 on January 5, 1998):

* Open Excel 97.

* Open a new worksheet and press the F5 key.

* Type X97:L97 and press the Enter key.

* Press the Tab key.

* Hold Ctrl-Shift and click the Chart Wizard button on the tool bar.

* Once the Easter egg is activated, use the mouse to fly around - right button for forward, left for reverse. There are also keyboard controls.

I'm not going to go into detail about how to run the game. If you want, you can play with it yourself. The point is, what is a game doing inside the spreadsheet?

There is no reason for the inclusion of this code, even granted the opinion that software bloat is not always a bad thing. But this game, the code for it, the graphics, and other extraneous pieces, are taking up space on millions of computers. Most users of those computers have no idea the function is there.

This says something about quality control at Microsoft. Here is an undocumented feature, and a rather large one, coming out of a widely used office product. However, Microsoft is not the only company at fault. Look up http://www.eeggs.com/ for a list of a mere 3031 (as of a few weeks ago) such functions.

However, it also says something else about security. Take another look at those instructions. Think anybody would be likely to do that in the course of a day's work? But with millions of curious computer users out there, even this type of sequence is going to be found out. Which means that any kind of security bug, no matter how deeply buried, is eventually going to be found. Probably by the wrong people first ...

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