OK, so that headline may be a tad on the sensationalist side, but seeing as I already find it incredible that people stick with Internet Explorer when there are much better alternatives out there, it’s rather fitting. With a new zero day security flaw having been found on Microsoft’s IE, surely the time is ripe to switch Web browsers.

Internet Explorer is by far the most popular Web browser available, but that’s mainly by default. New PCs generally ship with Windows installed and a copy of Internet Explorer sitting waiting to be used. Whether people are unaware of the alternatives or just to lazy to swap isn’t clear but IE still has enjoys a healthy 78 percent market share.

This has thankfully dropped considerably from the 2003 high of 94 percent, with many people switching to Mozilla Firefox or Opera. Even Google is now getting in on the act with the super fast Chrome browser although that’s only recently come out of beta.

There now seems to be a bigger reason than usual for switching browsers, with the news that Microsoft has discovered a serious security flaw in Internet Explorer. Unfortunately, Microsoft wasn’t the first to discover the threat, with BBC News reporting that up to 10,000 Web sites could already have been compromised.

The flaw, found in IE 7 as well as IE 5 and IE 6, means cyber-criminals could potentially take control of people’s computers, stealing their passwords and other sensitive information in the process. Thankfully, the flaw only seems to have been used to steal computer game code so far. But that is sure to change if the loophole isn’t closed quickly.

Microsoft is currently developing a patch and advising IE users to up their security settings. But security experts are advising people go one step further and find an alternative browser until Microsoft plugs the hole.

The security flaw is what’s known as a zero day attack because the hackers and writers of malware discovered it before the manufacturers of the product being compromised. Essentially, this means they (in this case, Microsoft) have zero days to develop and release a patch before the problem is taken advantage of.

My personal advice would be to switch to Firefox because as well as being more secure, it’s faster, more fun, and a lot more user-friendly than Internet Explorer. But if you insist on staying with Microsoft, up your security settings and only visit Web sites you trust implicitly. At least until Microsoft gets its act together and releases the very necessary patch.

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Entry was posted on Tuesday, December 16th, 2008 at 4:12 pm under Internet, Microsoft, Opinion, Security.  Print This Post

Read more entries by Dave Parrack.
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