Thursday 18 December 2008

IE - Is it now scary enough?

A few nights ago, a neighbor of mine called and sounded quite distressed. She's a mother of 3 and when she calls its usually about school runs or who is taking care of the kids after school. Before we could exchange the usual social graces, she blurted out, "How do I get rid of Internet Explorer?"

 

Tough question. And, given the person I was taking to, there was no point in answering the question with a, "You can't. It's embedded in the Operating System.". Instead, I replied, "Why?"

 

"Because those hackers in China can steal by computer", she replied.

 

Ohhh…  So, IE's security vulnerabilities have finally gone mainstream.  And by mainstream I mean the BBC;

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7788687.stm

 

No wonder she was terrified.

 

And she is not alone. Cruising some of the Patch related newsgroups, there was numerous comments from government and military organizations that have simply turned off internet access for IE. One organization has reportedly disconnected 65% of their work-force until they can test and deploy the latest IE patch (which can be found here;

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms08-078.mspx

 

I work with the Microsoft security team quite a bit and given what I know, have dumped IE years ago. My journey through the browser jungle took me through Firefox, Safari, and finally Chrome - where I am sufficiently happy/unhappy to remain.

 

For those stuck on IE - download and deploy this patch IMMEDIATELY.  Then, when you have a chance to catch your breath; consider the alternatives;

 

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