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German government warns against using MS Explorer

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  • 19-01-2010 10:13pm
    #1
    PogMoThoin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,874 ✭✭✭✭


    Didn't see this posted
    The German government has warned web users to find an alternative browser to Internet Explorer to protect security.

    The warning from the Federal Office for Information Security comes after Microsoft admitted IE was the weak link in recent attacks on Google's systems.

    Microsoft rejected the warning, saying that the risk to users was low and that the browsers' increased security setting would prevent any serious risk.

    However, German authorities say that even this would not make IE fully safe.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8463516.stm


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    #2
    DarrenMSP
    Closed Accounts Posts: 147 ✭✭DarrenMSP


    Why were people in Google using IE6 anyway?Doesn't really make sense!

    But in truth, this is PR gold, Ms have been trying to get people off IE6 for years now. They want the Enterprise to upgrade to IE8 and moving to IE8 is the easiest thing for Enterpise will likely lead to fewer complications than moving to a different browser altogether.


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    #3
    Biggins
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 34,567 ✭✭✭✭Biggins


    LOL ...and Microsoft says we shouldn't move from using explorer! Yea right...
    Microsoft: Switch from IE and your risk increases
    Story HERE

    By the way, Microsoft are rushing out an immediate fix/update for the some computers that were hacked by the Chinese.
    Microsoft issuing Internet Explorer patch - Out-of-band patch to plug browser hole
    See HERE


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    #4
    Fysh
    Moderators, Arts Moderators, Regional Abroad Moderators Posts: 11,024 Mod ✭✭✭✭Fysh


    DarrenMSP wrote: »
    Why were people in Google using IE6 anyway?Doesn't really make sense!

    But in truth, this is PR gold, Ms have been trying to get people off IE6 for years now. They want the Enterprise to upgrade to IE8 and moving to IE8 is the easiest thing for Enterpise will likely lead to fewer complications than moving to a different browser altogether.

    It affects IE7 & 8 as well, which is the problem. (A problem compounded by MS having the bright idea of trying to turn news of a serious security vuln into a sales pitch).

    As for why enterprises are still using IE6 - I worked for several years in a large corporate enterprise that finished migrating from 2k to XP in mid-2006 (just shy of 5 years after its launch), and which started migrating from 2k to XP in mid-2004.

    This is not unusual, even if it makes IT support staff wince every time they think about it. Nor is it unusual for corporates to have bespoke applications which assume the browser to have various quirks that were present in IE6 but not 7 or 8. Hence Win7's XP Mode, amongst other things.


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    #5
    DarrenMSP
    Closed Accounts Posts: 147 ✭✭DarrenMSP


    Fysh wrote: »
    It affects IE7 & 8 as well, which is the problem. (A problem compounded by MS having the bright idea of trying to turn news of a serious security vuln into a sales pitch)

    It does affect them I know, but its not in the wild hence Ms are using it to push the IE8 is safer bet message (and keeps you from thinking about moving to the competition :P )
    My point was that everyone is thinking this is a nail in the coffin for IE but its far from it.

    But I'm still confounded by why Google are using IE6... Why are they not using Chrome!?


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    #6
    Fysh
    Moderators, Arts Moderators, Regional Abroad Moderators Posts: 11,024 Mod ✭✭✭✭Fysh


    DarrenMSP wrote: »
    It does affect them I know, but its not in the wild hence Ms are using it to push the IE8 is safer bet message (and keeps you from thinking about moving to the competition :P )
    My point was that everyone is thinking this is a nail in the coffin for IE but its far from it.

    But I'm still confounded by why Google are using IE6... Why are they not using Chrome!?

    It's not been proven to be in the wild, but given that it's been proof-of-concept'd, I wouldn't be much more confident about IE7/8 than IE6 TBH, especially for organisations with the kind of computing environment that includes systems reliant on IE6. God only knows what other hatchet jobs they've had to do with security patches and open ports/running services.

    I don't think it's a nail in the coffin for IE but it's the latest big blow for it, coming after the huge row MS had with the EU over giving uninformed users a choice rather than telling them they had to use IE. It also brings the idea of vulnerabilities in closed-source products further into the public eye.

    As for Google using IE6, I'm not sure what you mean - I would expect a company whose primary business is web-based to have testing machines running every browser that has any kind of single- or double-digit usage figures - hell, according to these figures IE6 is still more prevalent than Chrome!


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    #7
    evolutionqy7
    Registered Users Posts: 6,275 ✭✭✭evolutionqy7


    ech how can ppl use IE...its so ugly bulky and annoying...just go to firefox safari or chrome...


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