Internet Explorer Security Risk

Internet Explorer has seen some threats and bugs in the past, but IE 7 users are being urged by internet experts to switch to an alternative Web Browser for the moment. If successfully exploited, Internet Explorers vulnerability could give control of your computer to hackers. They would have the same control as the local user and leave your entire computer and the hard drive open to cyber criminals.

BBC reporter spoke to John Curran, head of Windows at Microsoft UK, this is what Microsoft said.

1. How serious is this?
   
   Mr Curran told me that only a tiny proportion of websites were infected, but given the sheer scale of today's web, that could affect a large number of people.
   So, he said, "it is certainly something people should take seriously."
   
   2. So what should IE users do?
   
   Microsoft is working on a patch but in the meantime Mr Curran said there were four steps to take.
   - make sure anti-virus software is up to date.
   - run Internet Explorer 7 or 8 in "protected mode".
   - set Internet Explorer zone security setting to "High"
   - Windows users should enable Automatic Updates so that they get any patch that is issued.
   
   But of course doing all of that is not only time-consuming, it will make your web browsing experience slower and less rewarding. Which brings us to the final question.
   
   3. Shouldn't you switch to another browser until the patch come out?
   
   This has been the advice of a number of security firms - who of course are also touting their latest anti-virus products - but you won't be surprised to hear that Mr Curran disagrees. He told me he had recently seen a report which listed another browser as having the highest number of vulnerabilities. "it would not be advisable," he said,"to send people from one vulnerability (in Internet Explorer) to multiple vulnerabilities."

Of course Microsoft don’t want to lose customers but the risk o this threat is high, so be strongly advised to switch to Firefox or an alternative and protect your computer with Antivirus.

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