• Beware of botnets

Unpatched Windows 2000 or XP machines make great honeypots given the ease with which one can take over such systems.

• Warning of infected auction tool

A third-party add-on for eBay used by thousands of sellers is being flagged by Google as potentially malicious, after it became infected with a trojan.

Auctiva provides tools for sellers on the popular auction website.

• Telstra executive sparks Microsoft security scare

An unnamed Telstra executive has sparked a major security scare at Microsoft after a phone loaded with a secret upcoming version of the Windows Mobile operating system was stolen out of his pocket in Spain.

• Barcelona pickpocket makes off with Microsoft's new mobile phone

The notorious pickpockets of Barcelona have struck again – but this time the target was more precious than a handbag or a leather wallet. A prototype mobile phone loaded with Microsoft software built to rival Apple’s iPhone was filched from an executive’s pocket during an evening function at the Mobile World Congress, an annual gathering for the industry being held in the Spanish city this week.

• Worker dies on Microsoft construction site (more here)

Microsoft broke ground on building 83 earlier this fall, but the company has said that as part of a set of cost-cutting moves it will delay further work after the construction reaches a certain level until 2013.