Internet Explorer Users Warned to Change Browser Over Security Fears

It is thought that two million computers have already been affected as Microsoft conceded that 1 in 500 internet users may have been exposed.

Computer users are advised by some security experts to switch to an alternative internet browser, such as Firefox or Google Chrome, to avoid the hackers who have so far corrupted an estimated 10,000 websites.

Microsoft said that it is considering the release of an emergency update to correct the flaw. The computing company claims that it has only detected attacks on Internet Explorer 7, the most common version of the browser, but gave warning that other versions are also potentially vulnerable.

The hack was initially devised by Chinese criminals, who have been stealing computer game passwords that can be sold on the black market.

These threats occur as hackers race against software makers to attack the affected programmes, such as IE, before the known problems are repaired.

[see below] which would protect you from the vulnerabilities we know today but there could be variations to the vulnerabilities.

The company is telling users to employ a series of complicated workarounds to minimise the threat. It has been suggested that increasing the internet security zone level to high and disabling Ole32db.dll in the access control list could help protect a computer.

Some security experts, though, have advised IE users switch to another browser until an update is released. The next scheduled patch is not due until January 13 but it is not unusual for Microsoft to release an emergency patch.

Microsoft have struggled to build an appropriate patch thus far because the affected component is at the very core of the IE programme and any changes to the central code could cause a number of unexpected side-effects.

1. Keep your anti-virus up-to-date. Microsoft has circulated the definitions of these vulnerabilities to all the major anti-virus providers.

2. Reset Internet Explorer to run in protected mode. This is the default mode in Windows Vista but not XP or the earlier versions.

3. Set zone security to high.

4. Ensure Windows is updated. You can do this manually through Windows updater or set it to automatic updates.

More complex and comprehensive approaches are listed on the Microsoft website .

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/961051.mspx