The U.S. government advising stop using IE

Basically every internet browser is vulnerable people. You need to bring the information to your local system. So, there are always ways to exploit that. I take care of UNIX, MIRCROSOFT and other flavors as well. But, I don`t hate any one product.

They all have their uses..... There are literally millions and milions and millions of line of code to sift through. Microsoft has a wonderful product, So do the many flavors of UNIX, the same with MAC. But, they all have their faults and weaknesses as well. To run a proper environment, you have to get the systems to work together well.

Microsoft bashing is always a favorite with people, because they are an easy target to hate. Well, there is a reasons that the hackers target Microsoft.... Because Microsoft touts their ability to put a stop to them. They are challenged by Microsoft making it more difficult. An example... about a year ago or so, LINUX boasted on how they had 0 hacks and they were secure. Within a month there were 4 reports flaws. You never hear LINUX boast too much about that anymore.

But, this brings me to my point, Microsoft IE is a good product. So are all the others on the market. It all depends on what the user wants. I do think IE is more vulnerable, because they are a target for the hackers.

But, all systems ARE vulnerable. The government gets broken into, Sun Gets broken into, even Microsoft. If a hacker wants in, then they will probably be able to find a way. the only safe system is the the stand-alone NOT connected to the internet and is behind secure walls. If IE closed shop today and everyone switched to another company, then that would be the next one attacked.

Also remember this... There is no code on the market that has 0 flaws. It is impossible to make every software completely secure from everything, becuase the softeware has to do something. That something is the weak link. Also, I think for the market is is something like 1 flaw for every 10,000 lines of code is supposed to be good for a product. Microsoft has over 50 Million lines of code.

It is all hype about which product is better: Unix has a just as many problems as microsoft with security A Few Examples: Sendmail, X11 (still insecure), NFS, OpenSSL/SSH flaws that affect multiple applications, setuid binary flaws, environment variable/LD_LIBRARY_PATH/LD_PRELOAD type flaws, apache bugs, RPC, buffer overflows in miscellaneous applications.

It is all who is on whos team. Remember the are no sides. Apache, Linux, Microsoft, Solaris.. etc etc etc just want your money and your support to make more money.

I always knew IE had a few holes, and I didnt really care. But these new flaws are too much - keyloggers in .gif's? Screw that, firefox here I come. Plus it blocks ads

I just use IE cos im so lazy, cant be bothered getting anything else, and with so many choices, I really dont know what to get.

Firefox recommended in Microsoft's Online Magazine

How did this get through? A June 30th article in MSN's online mag Slate gives the thumbs-up to Mozilla Firefox:


Bully for MS for not playing the censorship card. It is actually a good article that sums up the "Browser War" situation quite well. Check it out when you have the time.

I wouldn't recommend using IE to anything else than updating Windows.
Even its user interface is inferior to others like Opera.
And I don't think it could handle fifteen open pages without crashing all time.

Ditch IE and your still screwed (dont use Internet banking thats the simple solution and b. dont put your credit card details into your PC):

www.securitypipeline.com...;jsessionid=SOYXKJWP1YH0YQSNDBGCKHY

Even the U.S. Computer Emergency Response Team (US-CERT), part of the federal government's Department of Homeland Security, recommended that users consider ditching IE for an alternate such as Mozilla or Opera.

"We're recommending one of two things," said Thomas Kristensen, the chief technology officer at Danish security firm Secunia. "Either use Internet Explorer under very restricted security settings -- which may not be possible for all companies -- or install a different browser."

Wednesday, Secunia issued a warning saying it had discovered a vulnerability within IE that allowed scammers to spoof, or fake, the content of a site displayed in the browser.

On Friday, however, the security vendor modified the alert to claim that virtually every browser, from Internet Explorer and Mozilla to Opera and Netscape -- including browsers for both Windows and the Mac OS -- has this flaw.

"It's not a code vulnerability," said Secunia's Kristensen, "but a design flaw."

I doubt that it is even much of a design flaw either. As stated... There HAS to be a way to let information onto the system. That way onto the system will always be vulnerable. That is the only way about it.

About IE and 15 windows without crashing..... I have personally had over 40 open at one time and have not had a problem. Maybe it is your system. But, this should be a productive link, not just for bashing Microsoft. Everyone had their favorite Browser, by what is better for them.

If you think Opera is much better, here are a few of their issues:
Here are the stats for opera.
secunia.com...
Secunia currently has 25 Secunia advisories affecting Opera 7.x.
- Opera Address Bar Spoofing Security Issue
- Multiple Browsers Frame Injection Vulnerability
- Opera Browser Favicon Displaying Address Bar Spoofing Vulnerability
- Multiple Browsers Telnet URI Handler File Manipulation Vulnerability
- Opera Browser Address Bar Spoofing Vulnerability
- Opera Browser File Download Extension Spoofing
- Opera Browser Arbitrary File Deletion Vulnerability
- Opera Browser Skin File Handling Vulnerabilities
- Opera Browser Arbitrary File Placement Security Issue
- Opera HREF Buffer Management Error
- Multiple Browser Cookie Path Directory Traversal Vulnerability
- Opera Mail Client External Image Inclusion
- Opera Browser Multiple Denial of Service Issues
- Mozilla, Opera and Netscape Security Model Violation
- Sun Java Security Model Violation
- Opera Long Filename Extension Buffer Overflows
- Opera Javascript Console Script Injection Vulnerability
- Opera execution of arbitrary code
- Macromedia Flash Player Potential Vulnerabilities
- Opera Cross Site Scripting vulnerability
- Opera Browser Java-Applet DoS
- Opera Browser Username Buffer Overflow
- Opera Cross-Site Scripting
- MacroMedia FlashPlayer buffer overrun affects browsers too


Now, for FireFox -
Now, look at the statistics... notice that only recently have they been coming out. Expect alot more as it becomes more popular.
secunia.com...
- Mozilla XPInstall Dialog Box Security Issue
- Multiple Browsers Frame Injection Vulnerability
- Mozilla Browser Address Bar Spoofing Weakness
- Mozilla Cross-Site Scripting Vulnerability

Also, the warning above affects about the spoofing affects these browsers:
secunia.com...
Internet Explorer 5.x for Mac
Konqueror 3.x
Mozilla 0.x Mozilla 1.0 Mozilla 1.1
Mozilla 1.2 Mozilla 1.3 Mozilla 1.4
Mozilla 1.5 Mozilla 1.6 Mozilla Firefox 0.x
Netscape 6.x Netscape 7.x
Opera 5.x Opera 6.x Opera 7.x Safari 1.x

I hope that this makes everyone realize that every browser is vulnerable and will always be vulnerable.

[edit on 6-7-2004 by JCMinJapan]

SP2 RC2 its the way to go...

I like the alternate browsers ('tho when u use them the most, they're not the alternates are they). Unfortunately, my work site aplet will not work under java2. Since that's what the others use, I always have to switch back to IE to work.

I think in the next few days I will install Red Hat Enterprise 3.0 WS edition on my desktop and wash my hands of M$ completely. That place has nothing to offer for me anymore.

Download Fedora 2 (linux's redhat replacement) if you want to move away from MS, but be prepared for various compatibility issues with various sites.

Originally posted by Indy
I think in the next few days I will install Red Hat Enterprise 3.0 WS edition on my desktop and wash my hands of M$ completely. That place has nothing to offer for me anymore.

And you think that is much mroe secure...????
In the last 9 months it has over 50 advisories....
secunia.com...

Fedora 2 has 19 vulnerabilities in the last 3 months.
secunia.com...

Does anyone read what has been posted before? Just because you do not like MS does not make it a bad product. There IS a reason it is popular. And like I stated before, I work with all flavors of systems. It just depends on what you want to do and which pretty GUI you think is the best.

Sorry to rain on everyones bashing parades here.... But this is an industry problem not one companys problem.

[edit on 6-7-2004 by JCMinJapan]

I agree that no browser is totally secure, JCMinJapan. Opera's 7.52 release has, I believe, closed all but one of those vulnerabilities, plus Opera is nery diligent in this regard.

Lest I seem too one-eyed about Opera, and also because Microsoft has judt released another 3 critical updates for XP, her's a review of various alternative browsers - some of which I hadn't heard of. Worth a look, if only for interest.

www.wired.com...

you would think that with the amount of money microsoft pays the government, that would have never reached the public.