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Tag: Internet Explorer 8

  • Internet Explorer 8 Zero-Day Exploit Gets Fixed Today

    Earlier this month, Internet Explorer 8 was hit with a pretty nasty zero-day exploit. Microsoft sprung to action with a quick fix, but there wasn’t a permanent patch solution available just yet. That day has finally come with the patch hitting Windows PCs later today.

    The Microsoft Security Response Center reported on Sunday that a patch for Internet Explorer 8 and below would be hitting Windows Update at 10 a.m. PST today. The company said that only a few users have been affected by the issue, but encourage all Windows users to download the update. Of course, those who are using Internet Explorer 9 and 10 need not worry as those browsers have better built-in security protections that prevented this latest attack.

    Microsoft also says that those who downloaded the quick fix released earlier this month will want to download this latest patch. In good news, however, you won’t have to uninstall the fix to apply the latest patch.

    The zero-day exploit that hit Internet Explorer was just the beginning to an already eventful 2013 in malware and Web exploits. Java was recently hit yet again with a zero-day exploit that Oracle has just fixed. It followed a report from AVG that said 2013 was going to be another big year for Web-based exploits with Java and Internet Explorer both cited as major security risks.

    Those who want to know more about the exploit and how Microsoft fixed it, the company’s security team will be holding a live Webcast later today at 1 p.m. PST. You can register for it here.

  • Use Internet Explorer 8? You’ll Want This Zero-Day Exploit Fix

    Microsoft would love it if you used Internet Explorer 9, or IE10 on Windows 8. That’s not going to happen, however, as many users are still on Windows XP where Internet Explorer 8 reigns supreme. Those users are now under attack as a zero-day exploit has been found.

    The security researchers at FireEye discovered a zero-day exploit in Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 8 in late December that allows malware to be installed on PCs running these older versions of Microsoft’s browsers. Microsoft is now working on a comprehensive fix, but has pushed out a small emergency fix for the time being. It’s highly recommended that you download the fix until Microsoft can finish its current investigation.

    Thankfully, the exploit doesn’t appear to be that widespread. Only a small number of sites have been found to be hosting the exploit, and a fix is already present. Of course, Microsoft’s investigation may show that the exploit has been around much longer than anybody previously thought. A report out of Sophos indicates that the exploit may have been in place as early as December 7. Thus, the exploit could have been infecting computers for almost a month without anybody’s knowledge.

    Even with the emergency fix, it’s recommend that you upgrade to Internet Explorer 9 if you can. If you’re on Windows XP and can’t, you can always take Twitter’s advice and switch to another browser. Microsoft even makes it easy for you with the European Browser Choice site. Opera, Chrome and Firefox are all presumably immune to the IE8 exploit and you’ll probably have a better browsing experience anyway.

    [h/t: The Register]

  • Twitter Kindly Requests That You Stop Using Internet Explorer 8

    Do you have a PC running Windows XP? Do you use Internet Explorer 8 on said PC? If so, Twitter has some words of advice – move it or lose it.

    Twitter Support tweeted out today that they’re currently looking into a problem where Tweets aren’t posting in Internet Explorer 8. They kindly suggest that users currently affected by the problem move to another browser.

    For some users, moving to another browser is easier said than done. As The Next Web points out, Internet Explorer 8 is the latest version of Microsoft’s browser that’s available to folks still using Windows XP. The browser also spawned some of the best ads to come out of Microsoft:

    Unfortunately for some people, Internet Explorer is all they ever knew. The Internet is not the living, breathing creature that we all know and love to these users. For them, it’s just something that should work without any input on their part. Rarely do they ever realize that their refusal to change is what leads to these predicaments in the first place.

    That’s why Twitter suggests those users check out Browse Happy as it contains links to all the latest browsers from all the major vendors. Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Opera are offered up alongside Microsoft’s own Internet Explorer. The site links to the latest versions of each browser so that users know they’re getting the most secure version yet.

    Windows XP users who are affected by the current outage should check out any of the other browsers available to them. Internet Explorer 9 may be unavailable, but the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox and Opera are all available to Windows XP users. All three browsers support Twitter and everything else you could ever hope to do on the Web.

    Of course, the problem won’t truly go away until we can phase out Windows XP from all major markets. Many people refused to upgrade to Windows Vista and still haven’t upgraded to Windows 7. This rift in Windows users can only lead to more problems as Microsoft drops support for Windows XP altogether.

    Windows XP users should take Twitter’s suggestion as not only a call to change browsers, but to finally upgrade that operating system. You don’t even have to buy a new PC anymore. The spread of tablets and other mobile devices ensures a few years of compatibility before hardware manufacturers create the next great thing that makes every prior device obsolete.