Fwd: BROWSER SWITCH

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Tue Dec 16, 2008 11:49AM EST

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Buzz up!on

The major press outlets are abuzz this morning with news of a major new security flaw that affects all versions of Internet Explorer from

IE5 to the latest beta of IE8. The attack has serious and far-reaching

ramifications -- and they're not just theoretical attacks. In fact, the

flaw is already in wide use as a tool to steal online game passwords,

with some 10,000 websites infected with the code needed to take

advantage of the hole in IE.Virtually all security experts (as

well as myself) are counseling users to switch to any other web browser

-- none of the others are affected, including Firefox, Chrome, and

Opera -- at least for the time being, though Microsoft has stubbornly

said it " cannot recommend people switch due to this one flaw. "

Microsoft adds that it is working on a fix but has offered no ETA on

when that might happen. Meanwhile it offers some suggestions for a

temporary patch, including setting your Internet security zone settings

to " high " and offering some complicated workarounds. (Some reports state, however, that the fixes do not actually work.)

Expedient

patching or switching are essential. Security pros fear that the attack

will soon spread beyond the theft of gaming passwords and into more

criminal arenas, as the malicious code can be placed on any website and

can be adapted to steal any password stored or entered using the

browser. It's now down to the issue of time: Will Microsoft repair the

problem and distribute a patch quickly enough to head off the tsunami

of fraud that's about to hit or will it come too late to do any good?Meanwhile,

I'll reiterate my recommendation: Switch from Internet Explorer as soon

as you can. You can always switch back once the threat is eliminated.Links for other browsers to try: Firefox Chrome Safari Opera