SillyDog701

[DJGM]

Web browser flaw prompts warning

Users are being told to avoid using IE until Microsoft patches a serious security hole in it.

The loophole is being exploited to open a backdoor on a PC that could let criminals take control of a machine.

The threat of infection is so high because the code created to exploit
the loophole has somehow been placed on many popular websites.

Experts say the list of compromised sites involves banks,
auction and price comparison firms and is growing fast.

Serious problem

The net watchdog, the US Computer Emergency Reponse Center, and the net security monitor,
the Internet Storm Center, have both issued warnings about the combined threat of
compromised websites and browser loophole.

Cert said: "Users should be aware that any website, even those that may be trusted by the
user, may be affected by this activity and thus contain potentially malicious code."

Ho-hum . . . yet another serious IE security bug that some complacent fools will ignore!

If you're using IE and have any common sense, you should not dismiss this problem . . .


More info . . .

BBC News Online - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3840101.stm

Microsoft - http://www.microsoft.com/security/incid ... _ject.mspx

Edit, added "Download.Ject" to the subject - Admin 5.7.2004
Unsticky by Admin 11.8.2004

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.7) Gecko/20040614 Firefox/0.9

[Wellander]

Important Customers who have deployed Windows XP Service Pack 2 RC2 are not at risk. Good for those.

How does the extended support for Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Millennium Edition affect the release of security updates for these operating systems?
Microsoft will only release security updates for critical security issues. Non-critical security issues are not offered during this support period. For more information about the Microsoft Support Lifecycle policies for these operating systems, visit the following Web site.

For more information about severity ratings, visit the following Web site.

Are Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, or Windows Millennium Edition critically affected by any of the vulnerabilities that are addressed in this security bulletin?
No. None of these vulnerabilities are critical in severity on Windows 98, on Windows 98 Second Edition, or on Windows Millennium Edition.

[Wellander]

Hi,
Also Internet Explorer is a very good web browser.
Except for 6.

Hope sillydog does not have this.

[Phoenix21692]

Heh, Internet Explorer 6 was the worst in my experience since it forced me to reformat my old computer in January 2003. I end up losing almost 2 years of stuff at the time. Heck, I'd say that none of them are any good at all. However, Internet Explorer 3.02 or lower are okay, as these don't integrate into the system and cause reckless problems. The only time I use Internet Explorer is at the library, since they don't have other options.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.7) Gecko/20040616

[DJGM]

Hi,
Also Internet Explorer is a very good web browser.
Except for 6.

Hope sillydog does not have this.

Which is your opinion, and you're welcome to that.

The fact is that Internet Explorer is a dangerously insecure, and technically obsolete OS component
that falsely masquerades as a web browser. But, if you're prepared to ignore the technical experts
that say IE is dangeous software, that entirely up to you. Who am I to stop such complacency?

IMO, the only half decent version of IE is v5.x for Mac. And MS cancelled that last year . . .

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.7) Gecko/20040614 Firefox/0.9

[Wellander]

Hi,
It is good for browsing files on your HDD.

[djv1]

Yes, but not good for much else

However, Internet Explorer 3.02 or lower are okay

you can't open up to many sites with those anymore.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.6) Gecko/20040206 Firefox/0.8

[Wellander]

3.03 and lower.
But they have thire own set of issues.

[Phoenix21692]

They're not that good nowadays. I know what you mean. What makes them okay is that don't integrate into the OS as much. But then again, there isn't much use for IE 3.03 and lower.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.7) Gecko/20040616

[Mandrake]

Windows 95/98/ME with IE installed are most certainly effected by this issue. Microsoft won't release a patch for 95, and may or may not release a patch for Windows 98 and ME.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7) Gecko/20040616

[Don_HH2K]

I'm not defending Microsoft, but every browser does have its holes. The ones in IE are jut exploited more because it has 80-something percent of the browser market right now. I'm sure that Safari, Opera, Netscape, Konqueror, and even those such as Lynx have security holes of their own, although not as many. As for obsolete, how long has it been since IE had a large redesign, and isn't it still a 4th-gen browser?

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.4) Gecko/20030624 Netscape/7.1 (ax)

[Wellander]

Hi,
The last Major update was 4.0 Back in 1997 I believe.

[Don_HH2K]

Hi,
The last Major update was 4.0 Back in 1997 I believe.

Wow.. Even longer than Netscape's one year and one day!

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.4) Gecko/20030624 Netscape/7.1 (ax)

[Wellander]

Hi,
Ie 4.01 and 5.xx were minor upgrades.

[Don_HH2K]

I found that when I switched from 98 gold to 98SE and used IE for awhile (when browsing in Windows Explorer for files and forgetting to switch to Netscape). It seemed to be no different than the transition between Netscapes 1.0 thru 2.0, there weren't a whole lot of changes except for new features, everything rendered the same.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.4) Gecko/20030624 Netscape/7.1 (ax)