What the RTF? Mac and Windows users at risk from boobytrapped documents

In the mid-1990s, the emergence of Word macro viruses – capable of infecting both Windows PCs and Apple Macs via Word documents – it was common practice to recommend users avoid sharing .DOC files and use Rich Text Format (.RTF) files instead.

The reasoning was that Rich Text Format didn’t support the macro language that Microsoft had embedded inside .DOC files, and so it was a much safer way to share information in the office.

The latest batch of security bulletins issued by Microsoft, however, underline the importance of not thinking that any security advice should be written permanently in stone.

Microsoft has warned Windows and Mac users that they could be at risk from boobytrapped RTF files if they leave their copies of Microsoft…

Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.

Found this article interesting? Follow Graham Cluley on Twitter or Mastodon to read more of the exclusive content we post.

Graham Cluley •   @gcluley

Graham Cluley is a veteran of the anti-virus industry having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent security analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of computer security, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter at @gcluley, on Mastodon at @[email protected], or drop him an email.