Microsoft have recently announced an important warning about using their default browser, Internet Explorer. Users of the browser have been warned of a flaw in their system that could let hackers gain access to their computers and steal personal data. Microsoft have issued a statement telling their customers to stop using the browser and swap immediately to another browser such as Firefox, Safari or the new Google Chrome. The flaw was spotted only this week in Internet Explorer 7 however the same flaw has been discovered in IE5 and also in IE6 which has alerted people who bought PC's several years ago. Considering that IE5 was released for the PC over eight years ago, developers have only just discovered the security flaw.
Microsoft are desperately trying to release a patch to fix the security flaw however in the meantime people will have to either not use the internet all together or go and use another browser. The flaw in the IE system allows hackers to access control of peoples computers that have visited a wide variety of infected sites with malicious code designed to extract their information. Whilst restricting web surfing to sites that you know and trust, the malicious code can be injected into any website which could cause the loss of very personal details such as pin numbers and so on. Users do not even have to click on anything to become infected, merely visiting an infected website will be enough for you to leak out sensitive information. Trend Micro who are antivirus software specialists believe that as many as 10,000 sites could have been hacked to exploit the flaw in IE's system. They are known as 'Zero Day' attack because it exploits a security vulnerability on the same day that the vulnerability became generally known within the cyber society. Either way I hope that Microsoft resolve the problem as soon as possible as I myself am using IE right now!
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