Google engineer declared details of a new Windows XP error; criminals have vividly ramped up online attacks that power the bug. Microsoft reported Wednesday that it has now logged more than 10,000 attacks. At first, we only say legal researchers testing safe proof-of-concepts. Then, early on June 15th, the first real public exploits emerged, Microsoft said in a blog posting.

Those first uses were targeted and fairly limited. Once, through, attacks have raise. The attacks, which are being launched from malicious Web pages, are resolute in the U.S., Russia, Portugal, Germany and Brazil, Microsoft said.Security vendor Symantec said these attacks peaked late last week.

Symantec has seen raised activity around this exposure. The raised activity started around June 21 and peaked around June 26 and 27, a company spokesperson said on Wednesday. Attacks have leveled out since then, he added.