Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security is urging people to stop using Internet Explorer because it isn’t safe and to find another web browser instead.
The warning comes after Microsoft admitted that it was a flaw in Internet Explorer that allowed Chinese hackers to get into Google sites recently.
Microsoft, however, maintain that there is nothing to worry about for the general user and do not support the warning from the German government.
“These were not attacks against general users or consumers” said Thomas Baumgaertner a spokesman from Microsoft in Germany.
“There is no threat to the general users, consequently we do not support this warning” he added.
Of course they don’t, they’re hardly going to come out and agree are they. However, there is something to worry about according to Graham Cluley from anti-virus firm Sophos,
Mr Cluley told the BBC that the instructions on how to exploit the flaw in Internet Explorer had now been posted on the Internet.
This means that the information is now easily obtainable by anyone and potentially allows many more people to exploit the weak security in IE and not just the highly motivated people with an agenda who were behind the recent Google attacks.
“This is a vulnerability that was announced in the last couple of days. Microsoft have no patch yet and the implication is that this is the same one that exploited on the attacks on Google earlier this week,” said Mr Cluley.
“The way to exploit this flaw has now appeared on the internet, so it is quite possible that everyone is now going to have a go” he said.
Microsoft is apparently working on the flaw in Internet Explorer, which affects browser versions 6, 7 and 8, and will no doubt issue a security update as soon as they have a fix for it.
In the meantime Microsoft say you can remove the threat by setting your browser’s Internet Security Settings to “High” but this will limit functionality and block some websites.
However, no matter what you do, nothing is guaranteed to make you safe, even if you change browsers.
“One thing that should be stressed is that every browser has its security issues, so switching may remove this current risk but could expose you to another” said Cluley.
Basically where security is concerned it’s the same old story, different day.
