German government warns against using MS Explorer

German government warns against using MS Explorer

news.bbc.co.uk

The German government has warned web users to find an alternative browser to Internet Explorer to protect security.

The warning from the Federal Office for Information Security comes after Microsoft admitted IE was the weak link in recent attacks on Google's systems.

Speaking to BBC News, Graham Cluley of anti-virus firm Sophos said the warning applied to versions 6, 7 and 8 of the browser.

(visit the link for the full news article)

IE 6, 7 and 8 !!!!

this little backdoor has been around for a while then....

Has Microsfot known about it longer than is being suggested?
Why has it taken them so long to sort something out.

Many people and companies worldwide have suffered in some manner from many forms of attacks. Can Microsoft be held responsible?

I can only imagine the lives that have been upset by something that Microsoft may very well have known about.

Microsoft have anounced this vulnerability in the last few days, but don't mention how long they have known about it.

It seems the only solution is to steer clear of IE completely.. use something else instead.. there are many other browsers out there..

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

Thanks for sharing...

I can only agree 100%. Microsoft has fallen off the ball over the years and have unconscionably welcomed it's Firefox replacement.

I would only add that Vista, Windows 7, Microsoft Office, and others are just as insecure. Thank god for a free-market.

I wonder, why they didn't warn me first. After all I am a German citizen.

But I don't use IE anyway. So maybe, they knew already.

Things like this is why, the very best reason of all, to make the switch to Linux. No security holes in Linux, and with the Firefox Web Browser you are safe as can be, after just a few configuration things. No virus, no daily security updates, never a fatal blue screen of death. so what if those Windows games don't play on Linux....Linux come with many games and more can easily be installed using Synaptic or Yum, whatever your flavor of Linux. Best of all, Linux is FREE. Most Linux Operating Systems are "rolling," that is, they are easily up-datable using easy to use tools.
So why are people still using Windows?

I use Fedora 12 KDE myself, and love it. Stable and fast, a secure I-Tables firewall, and Mozilla Firefox just flies. What are you waiting for? Download a Free copy of Linux today. I know about most of the different ones, so can answer most any question one may have...shoot me a U2.

Here's a bit of info I dug up..

Wikipedia has a very interesting list of browsers, including usage data over the years.
en.wikipedia.org...

And this site had done some browser security tests..
dotnetwizard.net...

Lol, the thread title should be fixed. I was like WTF before reading that it was Internet explorer... Not explorer, which is the windows gui.

Anyway, i dont even know anyone that use IE.

reply to post by autowrench


Star for you, penguin lover Linux kicks butt. Although I'd not touch Firefox. it's much more secure than IE. Hell, anything is more secure than IE , but Firefox market share is something like 30%? the more popular the browser, the more holes will be discovered and exploited. For your all of our sake, I hope Linux never gets as popular as Windows, the day it happens it will fall.

I have seen this kind of thing happen in Germany before.

Next the Reichstag will be burned down and it will be blamed on Internet Explorer!

People who use Internet Explorer will be forced to wear a Windows Armband in public.

Of course it will be for everyone’s protection at first.

Soon though shops and businesses that use Internet Explorer will have their windows broken and looted, and their owners forced to sell them at bargain prices to the users of other Government approved browsers.

Then the deportations will start….

Dark days ahead, dark days indeed, please donate to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and help keep Microsoft strong!

What kind of stupid humour is that?

It is a simple logic, that the most used programs are the first targets for hackers.

This was expressed here quite right.

reply to post by Siddharta


I thought it was actually pretty funny.... damn history classes. And for my next trick.... a second line.

Maybe it is pretty funny for you. But as a German, who had to learn about his guilt again and again, it is simply annoying.

It's like an old gag you have to hear and hear again. Funny for those, who hear it for the first time, boring for those, who hear it everyday.

Back on the topic: I use Firefox and Opera.

reply to post by Siddharta


Off Topic, what do you have to be guilty about? The fact that War is Hell and you live in a country that fought a hellacious one long before you were born?

Stop swallowing that emotional manipulation and for pity's sake get rid of the laws that restrict your free speech and instill this rediculous notion of guilt for things long dead people did in a war fought a long time ago.

I personally do not approve of the way the GOOD German people are allowing themselves to be governed in this fashion.

I said what I said to expose the rediculousness of that by displaying how almost anything including a web browser could be used in an interchangable way for similiar political control purposes.

What ever debt Germany and Germans owe to the world I am certain they have paid it many times over long ago.

Free yourself from politically correct tyranny!

On Topic: I use Internet Explorer because I love living on the edge!

After reading this post i will review my initial thought that mozilla crashing on two independant machines on the same day was a coincidence....

It has never ever happened to any pc of mine and mozilla always worked wonders in prerfect tune.

Two machines at different locations same day with varying antiviruses?

No coincidence after all...

Funny thing is that i indeed had a short revert to IE

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler


There is so much intelligence in your answer, that I don't have any problem with your first post anymore.

Excuse me, for thinking, you just made a stupid joke. I appreciate your explanation. And I agree totally.

There's something I don't understand in this news piece.

How was Internet Explorer the "weak link" in the attacks against Google?

Oh, and there is no such thing as a completely secure, bug free, browser.

Originally posted by ProtoplasmicTraveler
I have seen this kind of thing happen in Germany before.

Next the Reichstag will be burned down and it will be blamed on Internet Explorer! ...

LOL, althought can be a bit touchy.

Originally posted by Siddharta
What kind of stupid humour is that?...

I told ya, ProtoplasmicTraveler
Siddharta, I think many contributors to this forum know too well that German people along with other nations were tricked into the war, again. We, simpletons never learn, do we? we never seem to be able to organise ourselves and stick a finger (in my case two fingers) to TPTB. The dark humour that ProtoplasmicTraveler expressed is sometimes all that we have left to protect our brain from exploding.

Oh, read the rest of the thread all is cool, windows must die, Google is evil, Mozilla freezes every PC I use, CPU 100% for no reason. it must be those conspiracy sites I am visiting

Originally posted by ArMaP
There's something I don't understand in this news piece.

How was Internet Explorer the "weak link" in the attacks against Google?

Oh, and there is no such thing as a completely secure, bug free, browser.

Explanation: The EXPLICIT reason is that the inventors, engineers and technicians who built this "FAIL" [ Note: Its Epic nature depends on your POV!], built it broken in the 1st place just so they could have jobs fixing it.

ATS is similar in nature. Would you as a mod actually want to Stop modding and posting if all members posted within the T&C and all ignorance was already denied? Would you wave the magic wand and put yourself out of a job if you could?

I've already posted elsewhere on ATS about this EXACT issue as regards Win7 [packaged with IE8].

See it here.... Windows 7 security settings may leave PCs vulnerable to cyberattacks

Personal Disclosure: The engineers who design and make this stuff should "FIRST measure TWICE! and THEN cut ONCE!" :shk:

P.S. Bad users? Bad coders? HOW ABOUT BAD BUILDERS and ARCHITECTS! There's the REAL PROBLEM!

reply to post by OmegaLogos


Ouch, OmegaLogos. I am a software developer and it hurts I didn't design the IE though or anything MS. Stuff has bugs because we're humans and are pressed against deadlines and so on and so forth. There is no shortage of job, we have a huge list of new features that customers keep nagging us about but we cannot do them because we need to fix our bugs first. And we fix bugs for free. There is no shortage of cool ideas to be implemented; there is no need to write a buggy software. Honest. I cannot speak for all companies, or even my colleagues, but it's not always as cynical as that (I can’t believe I am saying this).

And I am sure mods would rather spend time doing other things instead of moding. There is something really wrong with your claim, do you see the pattern? :
- cops want criminals on the street
- littering streets and public places creates cleaning jobs, and hence is good
- doctors want people to be sick
- destroying working cars is good for the economy, so new cars can be built
- spending money and going into debt makes nation rich
- ...

hmm, I am beginning to see your point, OmegaLogos

See it here.... Windows 7 security settings may leave PCs vulnerable to cyberattacks

Personal Disclosure: The engineers who design and make this stuff should "FIRST measure TWICE! and THEN cut ONCE!"

P.S. Bad users? Bad coders? HOW ABOUT BAD BUILDERS and ARCHITECTS! There's the REAL PROBLEM!

The "Security hole" in your thread has to do with the default setting of User Account Control. Essentially a prompt will come up when programs try to make changes to the computer asking if the user really wants to do this. Microsoft lowered to default setting for this a notch thus creating your supposed "security hole". This was done for user-friendliness reasons, as the higher default setting in Vista was a massive complaint. Since neither Linux or Windows XP have UAC, I am not sure where your complaint lies.

Could you also highlight bad buildings bad architects, all you have done is complain about voice recognition software not working because you failed to follow the basic instructions. And if you want to talk about user friendliness please compare installing Nvidia drivers on a Windows 7 PC compared to Linux, plox!

[edit on 16/1/2010 by C0bzz]