Posted on 09/19/2012 9:28:24 AM PDT by JoeProBono
Germany's Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), the agency that looks after IT security for the country's federal government, is urging individuals and companies to stop using Internet Explorer.
The warning comes after the news that zero-day exploits are already in the wild for a security hole that affects Internet Explorer, versions 6 to 9. According to the BSI, it is more than likely that criminals will use these vulnerabilities to target users.
As there is no fix for the flaw currently available*, the BSI is recommending users ditch IE until Microsoft releases a patch. Microsoft announces the upcoming fix for the zero day vulnerability on Twitter "The BSI recommends all users of Internet Explorer to use an alternative internet browser until the manufacturer has released a security update," it said in an advisory on the BSI site. The BSI routinely issues warnings for currently active exploits. In the past, warnings have been issued against zero-day flaws in Java and several other issues in Internet Explorer.
The agency is already in contact with Microsoft and is pushing for a fix for the vulnerability, according to the advisory. That update might not be too far away. In a blog published on Tuesday, Yunsun Wee, director of Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing Group, announced a one-click 'fix it' for the flaw will be released in the "next few days". Microsoft has also pointed users towards a free tool*, the Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET), which should prevent users falling victim to any exploits......
Bookmark.
Microsoft can always be expected to duck under your lowest expectation.
Let us always remember that Gates would flunk an exam in basic...let along any real programming language.
He was a brilliant businessman (why think when you can purchase/copy/steal)?
As any sort of a technical type, he’s as dumb as the Obamadork.
And his successor is worse in every respect.
“If this user has administrative rights, the attacker might be able to get complete control over the system. “
And there’s the key to the ONLY way to even partially secure your system: perform your work only from a limited/standard account and use an administrative account ONLY for administrative activities like installing/uninstalling/upgrading software or hardware.
Unfortunately, all login accounts on Windows have full administrative privileges by default and sometimes it can be a bit difficult to setup a limited account and effectively use it, since a few old/stupid programs won’t work properly under a limited account.
Also, if there’s an existing account, it’s best to make a new, administrative account and convert the existing account to limited. Furthermore, all bets are off for this strategy to work well on XP without a great deal more work because Microsoft really screwed the pooch for the way the system does ownership and ACL permissions for the Windows and Program Files folders and their contents.
Firefox has turned into it’s own chunk spewing POS.
IE bites. It always has. Likewise, the current IE9 TV commercial may be the most obnoxious ad running.
I recommend using the latest version of FireFox (and Linux).
Apparently police departments in France are switching all of their (90,000) computers to Linux.
How much is a copy of Windows 8? That is some savings.
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