Internet Explorer 8 vulnerability

BuckeyeDennis · Post by **BuckeyeDennis** » Mon Apr 28, 2014 3:18 pm

The following is an excerpt from an email I just received from our IT manager:

We have come to that point: It's no longer safe to use Internet Explorer 8 as your web browser. Because Windows XP (and its Internet Explorer 8) are no longer supported by Microsoft, their security was already hanging by a thread. Now a security exploit of Internet Explorer has been discovered. Since this version of Internet Explorer will never again get security updates, this vulnerability will remain forever.

The latest version of Mozilla Firefox is installed on all of our XP computers. If you are using one of those machines, you should switch to using Firefox today. The discovered exploit is a zero-day exploit, meaning zero days passed between when Microsoft found out about it and when it began to be actively exploited. Mozilla Firefox can import all of your bookmarks from Internet Explorer.

Internet Explorer 8 should not be used at all. It is already being exploited and, as there are millions of vulnerable XP PCs out there, I expect it to be heavily targeted for additional exploits in the future.

joedw00 · Post by **joedw00** » Mon Apr 28, 2014 4:52 pm

I stopped using Internet Explorer 2 years ago got tired of it being so slow.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Mon Apr 28, 2014 5:02 pm

I dropped IE as soon as I learned there was another way. I am now using Firefox and have no problems that can be pinned on the browser.

I do employ my own security (and it is NOT McAfee).

garys · Post by **garys** » Tue Apr 29, 2014 12:29 pm

A simple solution to the problem, and you get to use a better web browser too.

Now, it will be interesting to see how long Microsoft leaves the Windows 7 and Windows 8 users vulnerable to this security hole. Apparently, they haven't done anything with it yet, so Windows 7 and 8 are just as vulnerable today as XP.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2148368/ ... a-fix.html

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Tue Apr 29, 2014 1:21 pm

garys wrote:A simple solution to the problem, and you get to use a better web browser too.

Now, it will be interesting to see how long Microsoft leaves the Windows 7 and Windows 8 users vulnerable to this security hole. Apparently, they haven't done anything with it yet, so Windows 7 and 8 are just as vulnerable today as XP.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2148368/new-internet-explorer-zero-day-puts-web-at-risk-and-xp-isnt-getting-a-fix.html

I have sorta given up on trying to stay abreast of all the malicious software that is out there. I have fire walls and spam avoidance software in place but to really protect myself I simply maintain backups of everything that is important to me. I have not always done that and I have paid the price. No more. Financials and precious photos and a few other items reside on this computer and on a separate machine which has both resident files and a set of backups stored elsewhere.

Now, when the system crashes, I can maintain my cool. NOTHING IS LOST except the time to recover from the crash.

fitzhugh · Post by **fitzhugh** » Tue Apr 29, 2014 6:01 pm

I think it is great you passed on this warning. Let's keep in mind people have very different degrees of knowledge.

A scary timely story:

Got a call just an hour ago from my mom. She wanted to know if there was anything she should have done differently (answer was "no")...

A kid sounding like the right age had just phoned and called her Gramma, and scarily called himself not only the right name for her grandson, my nephew, but used the right nickname (for example, say, Billie instead of William).... Said he had a bad cold to cover any difference in voice... Went on to describe some story about being in a different city on a trip, his friend was just got hit and killed by a car, and his friend had the return tickets so could she please wire money.
Luckily I've got a sharp mom. It sounds hard to fall for, but he knew some things a scanner would be unlikely to know and worked from a very good script that I'm not doing justice to. She saw through it after a short bit but hearing panic in the voice of her 'grandson' did have her going at first.

Security software is very important but only goes so far. In my non expert but well informed opinion it is at least as important to remember that no matter what we do we will still run into scans, and sometimes our info can end up in the wrong hands.
As for scams, recognizing them is key. A few thoughts:

Always be skeptical of anything online involving money, especially (but not only) if you don't initiate it yourself.

Don't EVER enter private info like SSN into a form you got to via email, instead go to your bank's website manually and open the form.

Always take a close look at the URL or full email address to make sure it matches what it should.

Pick up the phone and call if you are not 100% sure, and get the number bids Google or a paper statement, phone book, etc., not the suspicious email or webpage.

As for info in the wrong hands, check credit card and bank statements, credit score, etc. The best thing I've done is switching to a small local bank. They know my name, they go out of their way to avoid or solve problems, they actually answer the phone and even call back. They also called me when they saw suspicious activity... A person called and asked, rather than a computer locking my account automatically (it was me, traveling, so that was vital).

I'm no expert but these might help someone.

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Wed Apr 30, 2014 10:13 am

fitzhugh wrote:I think it is great you passed on this warning. Let's keep in mind people have very different degrees of knowledge.

A scary timely story:

Got a call just an hour ago from my mom. She wanted to know if there was anything she should have done differently (answer was "no")...

A kid sounding like the right age had just phoned and called her Gramma, and scarily called himself not only the right name for her grandson, my nephew, but used the right nickname (for example, say, Billie instead of William).... Said he had a bad cold to cover any difference in voice... Went on to describe some story about being in a different city on a trip, his friend was just got hit and killed by a car, and his friend had the return tickets so could she please wire money.
Luckily I've got a sharp mom. It sounds hard to fall for, but he knew some things a scanner would be unlikely to know and worked from a very good script that I'm not doing justice to. She saw through it after a short bit but hearing panic in the voice of her 'grandson' did have her going at first.

Being in ministry you would not believe how many times I have heard this story repeated by older people. Some actually sent the money. Some sent it realized they had been taken and called the police who captured the person when they tried to pick it up.

My advice any time a person gets a call like this they should make it sound like they want to help but ask the caller to call back later. Then they should get the police involved and follow their instructions. If enough people do this we will get these scum bags off the streets.

garys · Post by **garys** » Thu May 01, 2014 6:04 pm

The good news today for IE users is that Microsoft released a patch for the security hole, and it covers not only the newer IE for Windows 7 and 8, but also the older version for XP. So, once again, XP is at least as secure as the newer versions.
http://www.informationweek.com/software ... id/1235022