German Watchdog Warns of INTERNET EXPLORER BREACH

Originally posted by Chrisfishenstein
Just like I always say to my wife, a lock only keeps an honest person out......A thief will get in no matter the security!!

Don't disagree mostly buuuuut ...

Just because a thief can get in doesn't mean making them breakfast and a cup of coffee for the half-time break before giving them a hand with your TV.

I don't love or hate IE particularly and even though I imagine most networks run by ordinary people are the equivolent of an open door with a party sign saying 'welcome back spyware!' I can still a thread like this being useful to remind those people that seem to have the crazy idea that their computer is a lock box.

The only negative side effects I see is having to put up with the Apple fan train and perhaps a few persons that seem to get some sort of amazing kick out of discussing web browsers as if they're comparing station wagons. Your router gets hacked all the time, some versions of java have vulnerbilities like a hot dog vendor at a fat man convention, and your flash stick ... you infected that little circuit board yourself when you downloaded 'I'm a virus.pdf' from a fake adobe website ... It's pretty rare to see someone unleashing sarcastic commentary on your java version choice, the model and config of your router, or your PDF reader. (These things don't have patch-Tuesday either.)

Imagine game show voice for me ... Is THIS your breach?

Summary ... I think Heff has made a usefulish thread, it's still unfortunately neccessary in 2012, changing from IE isn't a terrible idea but IE isn't your only or even main problem most of the time, safe browsing is as much or more to do with browsing and updating habits IMO than just your browser choice. Hands up if you updated your browser this month?

Disclaimer: No, I don't hate your Mac. No, I don't want to discuss your Mac. I have Macs, I work with Macs, Macs are fine. Just it slightly scares me when people get more passionate about browsing software than their own husband, children and dog.

reply to post by Hefficide


Ironically, the link is bad for the source of the OP's info.



www.pcadvisor.co.uk...

Hmm. Apparently it has already been weaponized via Metasploit module.

Why would anyone use Internet Explorer anyway? That's the kid eating glue at the back of the bus. Stick to Firefox or Chrome...they know what's up.

reply to post by AfterInfinity


Some may need to for work purposes, as IE may be the only supported browser.

Originally posted by Dnepropetrovsk
lol its just same old scare BS. Safari,firefox,chrome and opera all have vulnerabilities too.
www.wired.com...
reviews.cnet.com...
www.mozilla.org...

To think that IE is less safe than the alternatives is ignorant.

No, it's actually not. It's perfectly logical.

PC's are more vulnerable to attack than Mac's because they are more common. The WordPress blogging platform is more commonly hacked because it is the most popular one webmasters use. IE is more open to attack and exposing of vulnerabilities because it is the most commonly used browser.

If you wanted to target the most people, you wouldn't go after a hole in FireFox or Opera, you'd go after the most commonly used browser out there, and that's what hackers do.

There have been countless examples of IE being found to have weaknesses. It seems to happen all the time. But, there are still plenty of people who don't understand the basics and refuse to accept that the alternatives are far safer simply because they are not the dominant option in use.

reply to post by detachedindividual


Or perhaps safety is an illusion....

reply to post by detachedindividual

Originally posted by detachedindividuall
PC's are more vulnerable to attack than Mac's because they are more common. The WordPress blogging platform is more commonly hacked because it is the most popular one webmasters use. IE is more open to attack and exposing of vulnerabilities because it is the most commonly used browser.

It is clearly apparent that you are just repeating something you heard without knowing much about what we are talking about here, ill try to explain it to you. You are mixing issues, the vulnerabilities are in the software its self and has nothing to do with what is more common. I could make my own browser that nobody but me uses and it would have vulnerabilities. ALL the browsers have them, the link i posted on the Firefox vulnerabilities and security issues comes straight from the makers Firefox themselves.

www.theverge.com...

You can go to the malware bytes forums and all the other anti-virus forums, they are filled with people who are using every browser imaginable as well as running every AV software that "works" better than the others. And they all end up infected at some point.

IE, don't even bother. I got too many issues with it to list.

Chrome is fast, but the built-in security is bad and it allows a lot of tracking cookies and other adware/spyware through that even IE blocks. Besides, after their data payload scandal I don't trust their browser that phones home.. instead if you must have it, use chronium OpenSource developments.

Firefox is easily the best choice. Customizable to any need with addons and themes.

Tor Browser, the anonymous choice. It is based on Firefox and promotes privacy.
Torbrowser

Originally posted by sixswornsermon
reply to post by AfterInfinity

 

Some may need to for work purposes, as IE may be the only supported browser.

Try "IE Tab", It's a addon for firefox. Might help.

reply to post by anno141


I will try it, thanks for the suggestion.

I would recommend "firefox" or "iron" browsers as i used those for a long time now, and they seem to have always worked better then IE anyhow, in my own experience anyway. And both have great add-ons, firefox of course being the best in that field.

And always keep the third party things like Java, Flash, Adobe Reader, Quicktime... and any other crap that likes to integrate with the browsers, fully up to date. All these things can have exploits. If your going to have to go to naughty sites or something, you might want to try a program called Sandboxie for those times. Google it, read about how it works and it can help protect you.... big time.

Originally posted by AfterInfinity
Why would anyone use Internet Explorer anyway? That's the kid eating glue at the back of the bus. Stick to Firefox or Chrome...they know what's up.

Because certain browsers are not ready for prime time. Many sites have developed IE only sites because of the plugins used on the sites. Silverlight websites specifically.

Webkit browsers for example have tons of issues. So many that we do not support them at work. That's Safari & Chrome. I've had development issues several times with Chrome and Safari. Not handling of chunked encoding for downloads. Wonky display of webpages. Web page controls not working. And more.

I like Firefox as my alternative browser. And even then I prefer iE9 over Firefox because each tab has it's own memory space and if one tab crashes it won't freeze up the browser. And then ie9 doesn't have the memory leak issue that Firefox has.

I've been using Firefox forever, but I stick with the older 3.6.3 version because it works the best. Of course, it does use a lot of memory, but I also have a lot of memory and always have two Firefox windows up at once, both being full of tabs. The add-ons are great for it as well.

IE sucks, always has. Microsoft likes to make software and then release it to the public and have them test it for them which is why Windows has to be updated so often. When I used IE, it would always give me problems and if IE isn't working properly, it usually affects all of windows. IE always has tons of exploits and lots of things that can go wrong. IMO, it's definitely not a safe browser. I used Opera for awhile, but now only use Firefox and I love my add-ons which gives me control over what I allow my computer to connect to. Only the bare necessities. Combined with MWB and Avast, I feel pretty secure. I know hackers can do anything to anyone if they wanted, but things like IE and unnecessary windows services being turned on makes that risk much higher.

I've always used IE, I've tried other browsers but always return to IE.

I've been using IE for many years and never been infected through using it.
Update your OS and AV regularly and your no more or less at risk using IE.

Hackers may target IE more often than other cheaper browsers but with so many of us using it means they're less likely to find ME

I'm just now getting settled in at my computer - and have a pretty massive cold... so my online time may be short and a bit incoherent tonight, if the cold medication I took either knocks me out or makes me sleepy. But I'll try to address a few things before that.

To the poster who asked why I posted this alert about IE - when all browsers have exploits?

A: Because IE is the one that this specific security announcement mentioned - as it came over the Associated Press wires.

~Heff

Most of us wouldn't have a clue if evey keystroke we typed was sent to maxwell smart.
Perhaps firefox is a toad for the Russians , you would never know?
The real crims do not tell us when they steal?
As is , and always will be, never trust those who profit by you.
Most if not all , want to empty your pocket , far exceeding what you remember signing for.