Microsoft’s Web Browser Internet Explorer is installed on every single Microsoft pre-packaged computer making it the computers default browser. What very few people were aware of that the “explorers” that should be making their browser safe didn’t fix an exploit that has existed for as long as 8 years until November 12th, 2008.
Microsoft says that this exploit would allow “An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.” This exploit allowed hackers to over ride your user credentials when you went to their Website . According to Computer Worlds article “Microsoft not only confirmed that the vulnerability was public knowledge before today, but it also said that exploit code was already out and about.”
it's quite a doozy to let such a huge bug be public knowledge and have it in every pre-packaged Microsoft Computer tracing back to Windows 2000. Microsoft's Internet Explorer did not just have this one Exploit; it also had another exploit that was public knowledge marked critical for 22 months. The 22 month old Exploit made it possible for hackers to attack anyone using Microsoft office or word through the XML core service; however it was never taken advantage of possibly because of the amount of hacking skill it would take; or because it may not have affected every system.
The same week that Microsoft fixed two major holes in its browsers Security, Mozilla FireFox fixed 11 vulnerablities in FireFox 3.0 and 12 vulnerabilities in FireFox 2.0 this week alone. Microsoft should try to model their browsers safety the same way Mozilla Firefox’s team of coders protects their browser; almost as soon as a vulnerability is discovered Firefox coders are making a new update so people will be safe while using their browser.
To read about the internet exploits that were patched in depth click here and here
If you are currently using Internet Explorer click here to go to FireFox’s website to download it.