Stop using Internet Explorer! Now!

Secunia is, again, reporting multiple vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer

Now is the time to get rid of Internet Explorer. It is a product which is defective and insecure by design. It is a dangerous product.

Julien McArdle has an example exploit

Julien’s example exploit is quite innocent, in the sense that it “only” creates an empty directory on your C:\ drive.

These vulnerabilites could just as easily have been used to:

  • Destroy your Windows Installation
  • Make you into a spamming relay
  • Turn your computer into someone else’s remote storage for all kinds of illegal material, be it pornography (of the really bad kind) or plans for terrorist attacks.
  • Send all your mail and personal data to the Russian mafia. Or worse.

Oh, and by the way, don’t think you’re safe by not running your user with administrative privileges:

Many of the open security holes in Windows XP are critical, and allow privilege escalation.

So, I’m saying this once more: Use another browser! Download and install either of the following browsers:

How can site owners help?

If you are a site owner, and you wish to help your users, you can display a notice to your users, encouraging them to upgrade, similar to what is being done here. Feel free to use my redirect links, so I can keep a track of how many people are interested in downloading these alternative browsers.

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