Microsoft has been forced to pull a magazine advert in which it boasts it can make hackers extinct, because it cannot substantiate its claims.

The Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASASA) ruled that an advert implying that Microsoft's software can bring about the extinction of the hacker should be pulled for being "unsubstantiated and misleading".

According to itweb.co.za, freelance journalist Richard Clarke objected to the advert, claiming it was untrue because Microsoft software has suffered from so many vulnerabilities.

The advert in question depicts a dodo, a woolly mammoth and a sabre-toothedtiger and suggests that, because Microsoft software is so secure, hackers could soon join their ranks.

The ASASA ordered the software giant to provide information, substantiated by an independent, credible expert, on the security of its software.

But the agency ruled that the claims were unsubstantiated as they had not been evaluated independently.