A couple of months ago, a Google researcher named Tavis Ormandy uncovered a severe flaw in Windows and then took it to the web to inform the public. This raised the ire of some (especially Microsoft), because the research didn’t tell the Microsoft before going public (and thus didn’t allow Microsoft to patch it before everyone found out). Now, Microsoft Corp. is saying that it has been attacked by hackers exploiting the bug discovered by the Google employee.

According to Microsoft, the hackers launched “targeted attacks” on some computers by using this bug to their advantage, although the company hasn’t released too many details beyond that.

Microsoft also refused to comment on whether or not it was Ormandy’s revelation that inspired the attacks, but the initial controversy surrounding Ormandy’s disclosure was that the release of the information would help hackers easily launch attacks on Microsoft before the company could create software to fix it, which is pretty much exactly what happened.

[via The Huffington Post]