The Issue
You have probably heard about an exploit in Internet Explorer versions 6-11 (which is pretty much every current version) as reported by FireEye. The attack is targeting versions 9-11.
The current IE statistics are as follows:
IE 9 13.9%
IE 10 11.04%
IE 11 1.32%
Collectively, in 2013, the vulnerable versions of IE accounted for 26.25% of the browser market. The vulnerability, however, does appear in IE6 through IE11 though the exploit targets IE9 and higher.
The Details
The exploit leverages a previously unknown use-after-free vulnerability, and uses a well-known Flash exploitation technique to achieve arbitrary memory access and bypass Windows’ ASLR and DEP protections.
If the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is urging you not to use Internet Explorer, that’s kinda a big deal.
Options
Use another browser, if you don’t already. Being a web designer, I typically have 3-4 installed anyway. This is also helpful if you have other family members using your computer (like my teenage girls looking up Youtube videos that show up in my history ;).
These browsers have both pros and cons:
- Chrome – this is my default browser and runs everything with little issues. I am usually signed into this browser by default (which links my Gmail, Google + and Youtube accounts). Download Chrome here – https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/browser/
- Firefox – I use this for more secure functions, in which I’m not signed into all the time. Firefox can run updates when you first launch it and can seem to take a while, although, they’ve just announced a major re-haul which will be interesting to check out. Download Firefox here – http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/
There are less and less programs and sites that rely solely on Internet Explorer so although it comes bundled in every version of Windows, you can install any other browser you want.
Hope you find this helpful!
Thanks-a-mundo for the blog article.Really looking forward to read more. Really Great.
So good post,we have learned more on it.Thanks!
I am so grateful for your article. Much obliged.
Great post. I used to be checking constantly this blog and I’m inspired! Very useful information particularly the closing section 🙂 I maintain such information much. I was looking for this particular info for a very long time. Thanks and best of luck.
whoah this blog is fantastic i love reading your posts. Stay up the great work! You already know, a lot of people are looking round for this info, you can help them greatly.
Hey there! I could have sworn I’ve been to this site before but after browsing through some of the post I realized it’s new to me. Anyhow, I’m definitely happy I found it and I’ll be bookmarking and checking back often!
This article had to take you a lot of research time. I am impressed with the formatting and content.