Microsoft has admitted that it could be "technically possible" (though unlikely) for Vista's speech recognition capabilities to be maliciously used.

The scenario envisioned involves malicious e-mails or audio on Web sites telling the OS to "delete" or otherwise alter a user's files against the user's wishes.

Microsoft has said that the possibility is remote, however:

"The exploit scenario would involve the speech recognition feature picking up commands through the microphone such as 'copy', 'delete', 'shutdown', etc. and acting on them," blogged a Microsoft security researcher. The blogger added that it would require a perfect alignment of circumstances: the user not being in the room to hear the audio, the microphone and speakers being turned on, the microphone being aligned just right and the clarity of the audio being perfect.

TES