1.   Graham disagreed and said the software flaw was much more complex and difficult to exploit than the user contended.

2.   In the meantime, computer programmers are working frantically to find the problematic chips and fix the software flaws.

3.   Officials at the two Japanese companies say that identification and elimination of software flaws through tests and application tools are as expensive as they are time-consuming.

4.   PGP Security, which discovered the BIND software flaws, is a division of Network Associates.

5.   So far, no major companies have announced plans to cut business ties with Russia or other northern-latitude countries with vulnerabilities to the software flaw.

6.   The security expert is Richard M. Smith, who has recently dedicated much of his professional life to uncovering privacy issues arisingfrom software flaws and e-commerce schemes.

7.   The technology problems showed up in a series of software flaws and late product introductions over the past two years.

8.   Hackers also could use the codes to identify software flaws, making break-ins and virus-writing easier.