French government joins in on the Internet Explorer hate
It seems that Internet Explorer just can’t get any love lately as a second country has suggested that its citizens download a different Web browser than the Microsoft one.
The other day we reported that the German government has advised its citizens to stop using Internet Explorer. Well, now it seems that the government of France isn’t showing much love to the browser either. According to The Daily Telegraph, the French government released an advisory (in French) suggesting that citizens of the country should stop using Internet Explorer versions 6, 7 and 8 as soon as possible, and change over to another brand of browser all together.
The concerns stem from a recent statement from Microsoft that a vulnerability in the browser was exploited in an attempt to get passwords from human rights activists in China. In a statement issued before France joined in, Microsoft is saying that your average user is not at risk, and the the German government was overreacting to the situation.
Graham Cluley, a senior security advisor at Sophos, told The Daily Telegraph, “My advice is to only switch from Internet Explorer if you really know what you are doing with the browser you’re swapping to.” He went on to add, ”Otherwise it might be a case of ‘better the devil you know’. Every browser has its security issues, so switching may remove this current risk but could expose you to another.” While true, is it the best solution to keep using a browser with a known security hole? Also a browser that receives the most attacks as it is the most common one in use in the world?
While we at BLORGE don’t endorse any one browser, the continued use of Internet Explorer seems an iffy proposition at best.
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