Serious security flaw found in IE

[douglas9]

Source: BBC

Users of Microsoft's Internet Explorer are being urged by experts 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 urged people to be vigilant while it investigated and prepared an emergency patch to resolve it.

Internet Explorer is used by the vast majority of the world's computer users.

Read more: http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7784908.stm?ad=1

[originalpckelly]

1. Flaw in IE? NO WAY! This is so surprising!

:rofl:

[nc4bo]

2. IE should stand for Internals Exposed. They should be up to version 4,001 by now.

Firefox and Opera. FF has somes issues but they seem to stay on top of problems much better than IE.

[merwin]

14. Microsoft is usually very good about weekly patching of issues, and off-schedule

patches of extremely critical flaws.

This is simply an overreaction to the situation. I would be willing to bet that if you're running on Vista with UAC enabled, you're not affected.

[nc4bo]

17. I don't use Vista so I wouldn't know. nt

[Fearless]

29. You would figure that dilligence would be lauded?

Guess not.

[merwin]

37. People who write trojans go for the largest target audience.

Firefox has a ~16% market share, while IE has a ~75% market share. Same reason OS X is less targeted than Windows.

[Oak2004]

35. Yes-- what a shock -- "breaking news" indeed! nt

[HopeHoops]

46. IE simply IS a security flaw!

Firefox will be absolutely perfect as soon as they make the Sarah Palin blocker plug-in available ;}

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. this Firefox user is grinning

only thing we use IE for is to order labs, and that is because the lab's software won't work on Firefox. Maybe this flaw, which would enable crooks to latch onto medical records, will make the lab reconsider. (I work at a medical clinic.)

[nc4bo]

7. Have you tried the IE Tab thing-a-ma-jig add-on yet? It usually works for IE only situations

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1419

Check it out.

[douglas9]

8. Firefox named most vulnerable Windows application

In a list, published by security firm Bit9, of 12 most vulnerable applications for the Windows platform, Firefox finished at the top of the list.

The browser has earned the reputation from Mozilla patching 10 vulnerabilities which could be used to gain control, access, or execute miscellaneous code via buffer overflow, malformed URI links, javascript, documents and third party tools.

The browser is well respected throughout its open source community. Users can download add-ons, themes and many other tweaks that users can be used to adjust, modify and tweak their browser for maximum performance and appearance.

http://www.neowin.net/news/main/08/12/16/firefox-tops-list-of-most-vulnerable-windows-applications

Have no fear, there is always:

http://www.opera.com/download/

[Justyce]

12. Wow, did not know that. Thanks for posting. nt

[qanda]

9. I use firefox and I love it

But after a recent firefox upgrade, it started making my computer run at 100% usage. It's very frustrating. The only thing that cures it is to shut down firefox. ARGH!!!!!

[dixiegrrrrl]

15. I stopped upgrading Firefox after v. 3.o .

Heard too many complaints.
running firefox with NoScript and WOT, and Adblock, seems to be working ok.
I also used Spybot for security checks, but NOT the real time feature, called Tea timer. THAT is a pain to use.
Back in Marc I opend IE for 10 minutes to something that seemed important at the time, got hijacked almost imediately, got the Cool Web Search virus and had to reformat hard drive.

If an app needs IE, tough luck.

[tammywammy]

22. I had downloaded the updated Firefox

And I went back to the previous version.

[Penance]

42. You might want to read this before grinning too broadly

Firefox tops the most vulnerable applications on Windows.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=2304

[Warpy]

4. I only use IE for a couple of dumb games that won't work

even with the IE tab on Firefox. I never store any passwords on any browser.

If you don't have Firefox on your PC, get it now. Check out the add ons. While its popularity is already making it a target of hackers, it seems to be a lot less like the Swiss cheese IE in vulnerability.

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/

[douglas9]

13. <dupe> delete

[merwin]

38. Each add-on that you put in firefox increases the changes of vulnerabilities.

I use firefox primarily because of AdBlock... however, on sites that i regularly visit that have no ads to worry about, I use Chrome.

[BootinUp]

5. Not sure this qualifies as News certainly not "latest" lol nt

[Uben]

6. It's too late....

.....if you are reading this, I have already stolen your passwords to all your accounts, downloaded all your nekkid pictures, emptied your bank accounts, and ruined your credit! And, to show you just how effective this worm can be, I will have it all restored before you can log off and check it, and there will be no trail left, at all.


It's called the "wherethefuckdidmyshitgo" virus.

[Fearless]

30. Enjoy my nekkid pictures.

[UpInArms]

10. 8 year thoroughly happy Opera user here

free and wonderful at

www.opera.com

[apnu]

20. Opera? Kudo's to you!

:D

[Warpy]

26. I like Opera overall

but just be aware that a lot of pages are funky on it.

[kentauros]

44. 8 years? I think that's how long I've been with it.

If version 3.51 was eight years ago, then count me in as a fellow long-time Opera user :D

Everyone else copied from Opera :P

[Mari333]

11. firefox firefox firefox n/t

[gkhouston]

16. Amazing that "serious security flaw found in IE" still counts as latest breaking news

given how often it seems to happen. :banghead:

[dixiegrrrrl]

18. Sorta like "Al-Quada # 2" being killed every 6 months.

[apnu]

21. yeah well this flaw is really bad. It is in every version of IE. Ever!

Yikes!!!!

[merwin]

39. Especially one that has such a limited scope of vulnerability.

Anyone with IE7 on Vista gets "Protected Mode" by default, which restricts access to critical processes and files, giving them Access Denied. Yet another reason to use Vista over XP. I can live with two or three UAC prompts a day for the benefits that it gives.

[pattmarty]

19. "allow criminals to take control of peoples computers".............

..........Do they mean "real" criminals other than Bush/Cheney?????

[antimatter98]

23. So typical of Microsoft 'quality.'

Remember the OLD slogan, "The quality goes in before the name goes on?"

Microsoft does it the other way -- releasing minimally tested crap for decades,
making users vulnerable to the effects. Forcing users to endure
'the 50 mb security download of the week.

Microsoft has always used its customers for "Beta Test."

[merwin]

41. Apple security updates go into the hundreds of megs as well.

No way to avoid it with current operating system sizes. You should see the size of updates that are required when patching a linux system sometimes.

[davidthegnome]

24. Hahaha

It really doesn't come as any surprise at all. I recently had to re-format because of malware and viruses, it's amazing how infected your PC gets in very little time with IE. So I switched to firefox and don't use IE at all anymore. If Firefox starts having the same problem despite the add on/s I'll go with opera instead.

[HopeHoops]

25. My only complaint with FireFox is that there isn't a Sarah Palin Blocker plug-in yet.

[mbperrin]

27. Check out Chrome. I'm there now.

Really fast and absolutely no problems so far.

[OKNancy]

28. Chrome is fast, but still needs work

I've found a few irritations.

[Cronopio]

31. "Microsoft urged people to be vigilant ..."

That was Pres. Caligula's advice to us right after 9/11.

:rofl:

Just goes to prove, yet again, why I say that Microsoft is the Bush administration of software.

[damntexdem]

32. What, does someone actually USE Microsoft's Intestinal Exploiter?

What a shame!

[Kali]

33. someone left off the last word of that headline:

AGAIN (or the first word: ANOTHER)

[Zhade]

34. Yet again?

This isn't LBN. :p

[Lost-in-FL]

36. REALLY?? NAH!! nt

[Canuckistanian]

40. Is this from The Onion?

Those guys are so funny....

[jberryhill]

43. I found a major flaw in it the other day....

I typed www.freerepublic.com into the address bar, and my screen filled with gibberish.

[douglas9]

45. Microsoft Issuing Emergency Patch For Internet Explorer

Microsoft is planning to release an out-of-band patch for Internet Explorer on Wednesday to address a critical security vulnerability that is being actively exploited.

The company on Saturday warned that 1 in 500 Internet Explorer users worldwide may have been exposed to malware hosted at both legitimate Web sites and porn sites that exploit an unpatched vulnerability.

Microsoft confirmed finding exploit code on a search engine in Taiwan and on a Web site in Hong Kong that serves adult entertainment content.

"Based on our stats, since the vulnerability has gone public, roughly 0.2% of users worldwide may have been exposed to websites containing exploits of this latest vulnerability," Microsoft Security Response Center researchers Ziv Mador and Tareq Saade said in a blog post. "That percentage may seem low, however it still means that a significant number of users have been affected. The trend for now is going upwards: We saw an increase of over 50% in the number of reports today compared to yesterday."

http://bink.nu/news/microsoft-issuing-emergency-patch-for-internet-explorer.aspx
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Microsoft Security Bulletin Advance Notification for December 2008
Published: December 16, 2008

Microsoft Security Bulletin Advance Notification issued: December 16, 2008
Microsoft Security Bulletins to be issued: December 17, 2008

This is an advance notification of an out-of-band security bulletin that Microsoft is intending to release on December 17, 2008.

This bulletin advance notification will be replaced with the revised December bulletin summary on December 17, 2008. The revised bulletin summary will include the out-of-band security bulletin as well as the security bulletins already released on December 9, 2008.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS08-dec.mspx