Is The Old Internet Explorer Safe? US Homeland Security Issues Warning

I have decided to blog about this because i know many people who would not update their computer software and have been using the same internet explorer for many years now. It is not a bad thing, don't get me wrong, i am like that too, i just do not believe in changing something that isn't broken. Well, its time to think again.

 The U.S. and UK governments on Monday advised computer users to consider using alternatives to Microsoft Corp's Internet Explorer browser until the company fixes a security flaw that hackers used to launch attacks.

The Internet Explorer bug, disclosed over the weekend, is the first high-profile computer threat to emerge since Microsoft stopped providing security updates for Windows XP earlier this month. That means PCs running the 13-year-old operating system will remain unprotected, even after Microsoft releases updates to defend against it. The Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team said in an advisory released on Monday that the vulnerability in versions 6 to 11 of Internet Explorer could lead to "the complete compromise" of an affected system.


The bug is the first high-profile security flaw to emerge since Microsoft stopped providing security updates for Windows XP earlier this month.
That means PCs running the 13-year old operating system could remain unprotected against hackers seeking to exploit the newly uncovered flaw, even after Microsoft figures out how to defend against it.

"We are currently unaware of a practical solution to this problem," Carnegie Mellon's Software Engineering Institute warned in a separate advisory that US-CERT linked to in its warning.

Versions 6 to 11 of Internet Explorer dominate desktop browsing, accounting for 55 percent of the PC browser market, according to tech research firm NetMarketShare. Google’s Chrome and Mozilla's Firefox account for the majority of the rest of the traffic.

News of the vulnerability surfaced over the weekend as Microsoft said its programmers were rushing to fix the problem as quickly as possible. Cybersecurity software maker FireEye warned that a sophisticated group of hackers have been exploiting the bug in a campaign dubbed "Operation Clandestine Fox."

"It's a campaign of targeted attacks seemingly against U.S.-based firms, currently tied to defense and financial sectors," said FireEye spokesman Vitor De Souza on Sunday. "It's unclear what the motives of this attack group are, at this point. It appears to be broad-spectrum intel gathering."