Urgent Warning To All Internet Explorer Users

[richthelandlord]

There's an unpatched new vulnerability in the way ALL versions of IE process CSS and it means a booby-trapped web-page can completely take over your machine with no action whatever from you... merely visiting the page is enough.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/12/23/ms_zero_day/

It's perfectly timed to exploit as many new 'Christmas-present' users as possible.

There is a workaround that minimises the risk, but it's probably too much of a pain in the bum for most users to cope with:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/srd/archive/2010/12/22/new-internet-explorer-vulnerability-affecting-all-versions-of-ie.aspx

Best advice I can offer at the moment is to simply avoid using ANY VERSION of IE until Microsoft issue a patch... this is a really nasty one and as soon as the exploits get widespread it's going to cause carnage.

If you don't already have an alternative installed I use and trust both of these:

http://www.opera.com/ (My personal favourite and everyday browser)

http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/firefox/

To borrow a phrase from Sergeant Phil Esterhaus: "Hey, let's be careful out there..."

[DaveM]

Cynic that I am, I cannot help but wonder if this is the government's response to Wikileaks.

That said, I haven't used Internet Explorer in ages. Never regretted making the change either.

[richthelandlord]

Cynic that I am, I cannot help but wonder if this is the government's response to Wikileaks.

That said, I haven't used Internet Explorer in ages. Never regretted making the change either.

The potential for exploitation has been known (and documented within the security community) for several months, before the Wikileaks thing... what's new is the proof it could be done in practice rather than just theory, and the publication of that proof where the black-hat community can see it too.

As a cynic you won't be too surprised to hear that was done because Microsoft knew about the problem but didn't think it was worth fixing... they didn't believe it was possible to exploit in the real world, and they have now been forced to admit they were wrong.

The only time I ever use IE is to test code, as it has more holes that a rusty collander at the best of times.

[Oak Kitten]

Ritch,

thanks for the head's up. I downloaded Firefox. I used to use it, but I was having problems with it on my old computer, so I switched back to IE. I have a new computer, now, and I don't need that kind of aggravation, so Firefox is back.

Oak