Internet Explorer exploits escalating

Filed under: Security, Windows, Microsoft

Internet Explorer exploits escalating

by Jordan Running Mar 28th 2006

The vulnerability in Internet Explorer that we reported on Friday is quickly being taken advantage of, says the Washington Post's Brian Krebs, and more than 200 web sites have been altered by hackers to include malicious code to exploit it. Sites being seeded with infectous code include small business sites that most users would never suspect of harboring malicious software. When an Internet Explorer user visits such a site, all kinds of malware may be silently installed on their computers, including programs which steal passwords and credit card numbers. Microsoft has yet to release a patch and likely won't for another two weeks when Patch Tuesday rolls around. They're still advising users to disable Active Scripting, but Krebs is recommending much more direct action that I echo: drop Internet Explorer and install Firefox or Opera.

Tags: ie, security, vulnerability

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Eagle117 said 10:13AM on 3-28-2006

Firefox isn't without it's vulnerabilities either. As Firefox gains more popularity, it will have more vulnerabilities discovered and exploited. Also, you can't just throw Firefox at every user. Some people have a hard enough time using IE that they have been using for years. I can't imagine putting Firefox in front of my parents and expecting them to use it.

DanielSW said 10:26AM on 3-28-2006

Eagle117: You should try it on your parents. My parents said that they would never be able to learn this freaky thing called FireFox. The thing is that it only took about 20 min for them to learn, because all they see is a textbox and arrows which is the same on almost every browser.
Parents always thinks that the next mouse-click they make will result in an explosion. But they may be right if they use IE ;)

Fabulo said 2:35PM on 3-28-2006

Everytime a new IE flaw pops up, someone has to point at Firefox. Everytime someone else has to say it has vulnerabilities too. At least I can trust the opensource community to get off their butt and fix a flaw when it is discovered. I understand it is a choice I am making to better than hearing "You will have to wait for 'patch tuesday', we only issue new patches once a month". Does it not sound like Citihall? or any kind of government burocracy? Don't you feel let down? And that's with counting on the pressure of competitors like Firefox, Opera and others. Imagine if there was not "competition"

In the mean time enjoy your russian mafia spyware and gator on a stick with IE.

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