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Web Site Attacks Against Unpatched IE Flaw Spike

An anonymous reader wrote to mention a Washingtonpost.com article about an increase in attacks against IE users via a critical, unpatched flaw. The bug allows software to be downloaded to the vulnerable PC even if the only act the user takes is browsing to a web site. From the article: "[A] password-stealing program landed on the Windows PC belonging to Reaz Chowdhury, a programmer for Oracle Corp. who works out of his home in Orlando, Fla. Chowdhury said he's not sure which site he browsed in the past 24 hours that hijacked his browser, but he confirmed that the attackers had logged the user name and password for his company's virtual private network (VPN)."

3 of 268 comments (clear)

  1. Lets say it together: by gerbalblaste · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Use Firefox

  2. Legislation Needed? by RunFatBoy.net · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I understand that there will be bugs. BIG gaping security holes will happen.

    I worked at an air force base and they were definitely standardized on IE. Knowing about these bugs and electing _not_ to fix them expediently, couldn't this be considered a threat to national security?

    If there are over 160 million+ computers in the US alone, and 90% of those PC's use Internet Explorer, how can the US Gov. not justify action in insisting these issues be resolved promptly?

    Jim http://www.runfatboy.net/ -- Exercise for Web 2.0

  3. In other news... by zolaris · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Related, F-Secure posts: "Microsoft has put out a warning on a new, nasty, unpatched vulnerability in Internet Explorer. Proof-of-concept exploits are already out. Disable IE's active scripting or switch to any other browser. Not necessarily Firefox - just any other browser. " It's sad when the solution is "Any other browser".