Microsoft stung into action releases browser patch

Stan Beer
Wednesday, 27 September 2006 07:13

Business IT - Security

With the news that thousands of web sites are already exploiting an Internet Explorer flaw, Microsoft has been stung into action and rushed out a patch instead of waiting until the next Patch Tuesday on October 10.

• Announcements

The flaw, which is in the most severe category of critical, would enable attackers to gain complete control of a user's computer if the target simply visited a malicious web site.

In addition, the serious nature of the flaw escalated last week with the news that it was possible to exploit the flaw through HTML emails. Users could be hacked and lose control of their system simply by opening an email without an attachment.

When news broke of the possible email exploit, Microsoft issued advice to users to play it safe by opening emails in text only mode. However, a third party organization of security experts calling itself ZERT (Zero Day Emergency Response Team) took it upon itself to issue a temporary patch until Microsoft issued its official fix.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has been criticised by some, such as security research group SANS Institute and ZERT, for not getting a patch out sooner.

Now that a patch is available, users are advised to install it as soon as possible.

The patch is available from Microsoft's security update site.