New IE Problem

[WRGKMC]

Our IT department at work had all employees switch to using Google Chrome when MS announced their browsers had a major flaw dating back several versions.

Its not expected to be patched before May13th. It will not be fixed for XP so XP users will either need to upgrade or use other browsers.

 

http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/serious-internet-explorer-bug-leaves-half-all-browsers-open-hack-n91281

[blue2blue]

This is a VERY important warning, as there are active exploits going now!

[WRGKMC]

I believe a few computers I been using in the past several months may have been compromised.

 

I'd get this symptom when viewing a web page and the side bar started scrolling on its own like someone had taken control

over your screen. I thought the cause might be a flaky mouse or the battery was low or something, but it occurred often enough

to make you think the IT department was logged into your box.

 

​I'm not a conspiracy theorist but sometimes you wonder if these back doors are intentionally left open so the companies who write the programs or the government can gain

access to peoples computers. There are so many lines of code that build these programs and they are in constant upgrade mode from the day the programs are built. Hackers are obviously going to target the most popular systems. If there are faults, those who write the code will know them best. Seeing this fault has been around since IE6 its probably been exploited for many years now.

 

The part about this bug is the UK made this public. Seeing that IE is on nearly every computer made, someone has had access to computers world wide.

I wouldn't doubt other browsers have faults in them as well. They just aren't used by as many people and especially people on an international target list.

 

The loophole here is you don't buy and own software. You just buy a licence to use it so that curbs most of the lawsuits that could come about from damages.

Noone is going back to what we had before which consisted of Calculators and Typewriters. Doing business that way has been obsolete for decades now.

 

Not much else you can do besides take the computers off line. I do that on my DAW at home. It works fine and I have no need for doing upgrades

or running antivirus. I've never heard of an analog virus that can infect a microphone or guitar pickup so I'm probably safe, and so long as my USB

sticks are clean between the car and the DAW I'm likely safe from infection.

 

I wonder. If radios eventually have USB ports and blue tooth/satellite, What would stop someone from making the USB port on them writable?

You could carry a virus from your radio to your car. They did create viruses/Trojans within JPEG files. It would be just as easy to plan something in an audio file.

 

At least with a CD, if you close the disk it can't be reopened easily, especially if its out of space.

[Jeff Leites]

Our IT department at work had all employees switch to using Google Chrome when MS announced their browsers had a major flaw dating back several versions.

Its not expected to be patched before May13th. It will not be fixed for XP so XP users will either need to upgrade or use other browsers.

 

http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/serious-internet-explorer-bug-leaves-half-all-browsers-open-hack-n91281

 

The IE update came out today. MS also had a change of heart about XP. I got IE updates on my XP machines today too.

[Anderton]

Hasn't "New IE Problem" been the subject line for 2,461 threads?

[Anderton]

And doesn't this also beg the question that if a company with billion dollars of resources and an installed base that is something ilke 85% of the world's computers can't get something as basic as internet browsing right, who can? Apple hasn't gotten it right either, they just don't publicize the problems as much.

[WRGKMC]

True. The old adage, "nothing man made lasts" applies even when it comes to electronic media. I'd add nothing man made lasts because another man whose jealous of that creation destroys it because he is unable to create something just as great. The longer a piece of software is around, the more people know its secrets and how its built. Instead of people trying to improve it they hack it. Maybe this is a way of improving things through testing it, but it does seem to be a futile effort on their part.

 

The only reason other browsers don't fail is because they aren't mainstream, not because they are a better product.

 

I only keep one simple computer on line at home. Its doesn't contain any sensitive information and anything that is on it is backed up on several other computers. It also gets shut off when not in use.

Its as secure as I can make it but there is so much data contained in computers and different program extensions from different manufacturers, its impossible to guard against everything. You can only avoid making yourself a target and let the odds of someone picking you out of billions to hack protect you.

 

[MikeRivers]

And doesn't this also beg the question that if a company with billion dollars of resources and an installed base that is something ilke 85% of the world's computers can't get something as basic as internet browsing right, who can? Apple hasn't gotten it right either, they just don't publicize the problems as much.

 

Something that I read yesterday about the Explorer bug (it was in the newspaper, so it could be wrong) is that there wasn't a security hole as such, but that the user had to click on something in order to get into trouble. Isn't that the way it always was?