Serious security flaw found in IE

[Tony Monaghan]

Users of the world's most common web browser have been advised to switch to a rival until a serious security flaw has been fixed.

The flaw in Microsoft's Internet Explorer could allow criminals to take control of people's computers and steal their passwords, internet experts say.

Microsoft is investigating the problem and preparing an emergency software patch to resolve it, it says.

As many as 10,000 websites have been compromised since last week to take advantage of the security flow, said antivirus software maker Trend Micro.

The websites have been mostly serving up programs that steal computer game passwords, but the flaw could be "adopted by more financially motivated criminals", a Trend Micro security researcher said on Monday.

PC Pro magazine's security editor, Darien Graham-Smith, said that there was a virtual arms race going on, with hackers always on the look out for new vulnerabilities.

"The message needs to get out that this malicious code can be planted on any web site, so simple careful browsing isn't enough."

Linky

Time to switch to Firefox?

[Raymond62]

Users of the world's most common web browser have been advised to switch to a rival until a serious security flaw has been fixed. ............. Time to switch to Firefox?

Already did some months ago, but there are flaws in Firefox as well, but they reacted much quicker that MS.

Raymond

[Sonare Coeli]

Users of the world's most common web browser have been advised to switch to a rival until a serious security flaw has been fixed.

The flaw in Microsoft's Internet Explorer could allow criminals to take control of people's computers and steal their passwords, internet experts say.

Microsoft is investigating the problem and preparing an emergency software patch to resolve it, it says.

As many as 10,000 websites have been compromised since last week to take advantage of the security flow, said antivirus software maker Trend Micro.

The websites have been mostly serving up programs that steal computer game passwords, but the flaw could be "adopted by more financially motivated criminals", a Trend Micro security researcher said on Monday.

PC Pro magazine's security editor, Darien Graham-Smith, said that there was a virtual arms race going on, with hackers always on the look out for new vulnerabilities.

"The message needs to get out that this malicious code can be planted on any web site, so simple careful browsing isn't enough."

Linky

Time to switch to Firefox?

Internet Explorer seems to have a lot of problems, do Firefox and Safari have as many? It seems like people would be quick to jump on an IE flaw, but slow or reluctant to even mention a Firefox or Safari flaw. Makes me worry about the safety of my computer...

[schneb]

Internet Explorer seems to have a lot of problems, do Firefox and Safari have as many? It seems like people would be quick to jump on an IE flaw, but slow or reluctant to even mention a Firefox or Safari flaw. Makes me worry about the safety of my computer...

Not hardly. Neither Firefox nor Safari have control over the OS like IE has. That is what makes IE so dangerous. IE is joined at the hip with Windows, which is why geeks like it, and why hackers are able to exploit it.

[Craig F]

I switched to Firefox years ago and have never looked back. It's more secure, faster, customizable, and more standards compliant. I don't understand why so many put up with IE. It's total garbage.

[schneb]

I switched to Firefox years ago and have never looked back.

What sold me was Extensions. I have one extension that eliminates all the blinky Flash ads (dancing baloney). I have another extension on my work Windows machine that makes Firefox act like IE (for those lame sites that require it). I too have never looked back.

[keithjfuller]

Also, IE is so unforgiving on web coding. Firefox and Safari seem to let amateurs slide a bit on poor coding by "fixing" it.

I mostly use Firefox and sometimes Safari. Safari is just soooo fast on my mac (don't know about the PC version) and Firefox has all the great add-ons. Why do people still use IE in the first place? I'm not bashing it, just curious as to the benefits.

[schneb]

Why do people still use IE in the first place?.. just curious as to the benefits.

Some sites have applications and security measures that can only be accessed via IE. Which in and of itself is pretty dangerous. The Web was based on standards, and Microsoft, wanting to monopolize the Web, added rules and code to the standards that could only work with IE. This drove Web developers into a tizzy. What could they do? The market share for IE was so high, they HAD to relent and code for IE and all others. Some are still IE only, and with one homeschool site we tried, IE Windows only! We dropped them like a hot potato.

Well, like Vista, Microsoft is losing their market. The winners will eventually be those who hold to open standards and not proprietary strong arm tactics. Microsoft effectively eliminated Netscape Navigator by basically giving their browser away. Microsoft kept improving IE until they bloated and sieved it into what it is today. Mozilla returned like the thunder lizard it is by rising up from the ashes and becoming Firefox. IE is not dead, it just smells that way.

[keithjfuller]

There is a plug-in for Firefox that allows you to mask Firefox as any browser of your choosing. It's worked for me every time a site said IE only. I don't know if it always works, but it has for me.

[schneb]

There is a plug-in for Firefox that allows you to mask Firefox as any browser of your choosing. It's worked for me every time a site said IE only. I don't know if it always works, but it has for me.

Yes, I mentioned this earlier. It's called IE Tab, and its brilliant. Especially at work where some of our Intranet is IE-happy only. A good example is the Apple Store. In Firefox, images are Persona non grata. So I just right click the link to the Apple Store, choose "Open in IE Tab" and voila! I can even bookmark it and it will always open in IE Tab. The only downside is that the extension is Windows-only.