On the weekend yet another alert was issued by Microsoft over their browser , Internet Explorer. If you are one of those individuals who makes use of the interwebs using a version of the browser that falls between Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 11, then you are at risk. Quite annoyingly, over 25% of internet users fall into that category. So how are hackers actually targeting us now? Here’s how they do it:
- The hacker waits for a user to click on an infected link or open a bad attachment and then installs a bug .
- This is one of those crafty little bugs that enables the hacker to fake it as a legitimate user.
- Of course permissions mean for a more thorough exploitation of your credentials. So logging into the administrator account of your computer is not safe either anymore.
- According to Fire Eye, the sinister geniuses who sit anonymously behind their screens are making beelines for US financial institutions and defence organisations. Ok, well no surprises there. Who else would you target if you were a hacker? Seriously.
Helpfully,Microsoft has released a tool called the Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit. This is for those times when you just simply cannot use any other alternative browser. A frustrating result of some corporate sites stubbornly only supporting Microsoft’s browser.
So now Microsoft has to enter into the laborious task of creating and then releasing a fix for the bug. Sorry for you if you use Windows XP though. You’re still pretty much stuffed. Microsoft timeously ended that kind of support for that particular operating system earlier this month. Perfect.
[SOURCE] Washington Post
