internet explorer

Recently, Net applications released their January browser market share report and it appears that Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) version 8 now has a 22.37% usage share, making it the most-used browser on the planet. (Source: netmarketshare.com ) ... Another report by Microsoft's Windows Team Blog has confirmed similar results, stating that IE8 now has 25.6% market share across all operating systems (OS) on a worldwide-weighted usage share basis, making it the most popular browser of choice worldwide. (Source: windowsteamblog.com ) Either way, Internet Explorer 8 is clearly leading the pack. ... (view more)

Microsoft has confirmed a flaw in Internet Explorer could be used by hackers to access the files on a user's computer. The flaw was demonstrated at a security conference this week. The man who discovered the flaw, Jorge Luis Alvarez Medina of Core ... Security Technologies, says that so far as he can tell, it's not something which can be easily patched. The good news is that Windows Vista and Windows 7 both have default options for Internet Explorer which can block the problem. Medina first noted the existence of the flaw last week, but held back details until this week's Black Hat Conference. ... (view more)

United States security officials have joined European officials in noting the potential security risks of running Internet Explorer 6 (IE6). But they haven't gone as far as issuing a formal warning to stop using the browser. The United States ... Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), part of the Department of Homeland Security has issued an advisory suggesting users review the recent Microsoft security patch and apply any updates which will improve security. That could be interpreted in two ways: patch IE6 immediately, or update to a later edition; the latter of course would make more ... (view more)

Microsoft announced yesterday that it was working on a special emergency patch to prevent the spread of an Internet Explorer zero-day flaw in its Internet Explorer browser that allowed hackers to breach the defenses of Google, Adobe, and about 32 ... other companies. The attack is said to be "the most sophisticated cyber attack... seen in years," according to tech security firm McAfee . Now, Microsoft is offering recommendations for home and business users trying to keep themselves protected until the Internet Explorer patch is widely available. Older Versions of IE, Windows Most ... (view more)

Widely-known security firm McAfee has called last week's breaching of several major tech companies (including Google and Adobe) "the most sophisticated cyber attack... seen in years," even suggesting the operation could usher in a new age of cyber ... warfare. Attack a "Watershed Event," Says McAfee Discussing the attack on 34 tech companies in China last week, McAfee Chief Technology Officer George Kurtz was noted as saying, "I believe this is the largest and most sophisticated cyber attack we have seen in years targeted at specific corporations," adding, "What really makes this a ... (view more)

The German government has issued an official warning that citizens should avoid using Internet Explorer. It's a response to a recently discovered flaw in the browser that is believed to have been exploited by hackers attacking Google in China. ... Germans Expect Flaw to be Widely Exposed Soon The warning comes from the Federal Office for Information Security, known locally as the Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik (BSI). The warning, which was translated via Google Translate, read: "The BSI expects that [the Internet Explorer] vulnerability will be used [very soon] for attacks on ...<a href="/news/5401/avoid-internet-explorer-says-german-government" class="more-link">view more

An Internet Explorer (IE) vulnerability was used by hackers to get past the defenses of Adobe, Google, and about 32 other companies, says security firm McAfee. Until now, the IE flaw had been unknown to security researchers, while the attack had ... initially been blamed on an Adobe PDF (Portable Document Format) vulnerability. According to McAfee, hackers used a variety of tactics, including spear-phishing (email spoofing with a specific target in mind), to unleash an incredibly effective "cocktail of zero-day vulnerabilities," that exploited flaws in company systems and left backdoor loopholes ... (view more)

Microsoft will ask all European users of Internet Explorer whether they want to try out a rival browser. It's an unexpected result in a long-running dispute with European Union officials. It came as no surprise when the firm announced today that it ... will include a "browser ballot" screen on all Windows PCs sold in Europe from January 2010, and on. The scheme, which Microsoft had proposed some months ago, will mean that during set-up users will see a list of leading browsers and have the option to install some or all of them, rather than simply getting Internet Explorer by default. Ball Screen ... (view more)

Microsoft's next Patch Tuesday fix will solve a reported twelve security flaws, none more important than an Internet Explorer 8 vulnerability that the software company itself has marked "critical", its highest threat level. The next Patch Tuesday ... release is set for December 8, and the fixes it includes patch holes in several versions of Windows, including Windows 2000, XP, Vista, and finally Windows 7. Fixes are also due for Server 2003 and 2008. They'll cover a number of its most popular software packages, including Microsoft Office and its subsidiary programs Word, Work 8.5, and Project. ... (view more)

Microsoft has given Internet Explorer 9 its first public airing. The browser looks set to make up a significant gap in speed compared with its rivals but will reawaken controversy over Microsoft's policy on web standards. It's no secret that many ... tests show Internet Explorer is much slower in loading pages, particularly those that use javascript. However, it was still surprising to see the firm's Steven Sinofsky openly admit that gap, with his presentation even noting one test which showed Internet Explorer achieving just 50% of the speed of some rivals. According to Sinofsky, Internet ... (view more)