Warning! Don't use Internet Explorer!

[jadeclaw]

As the SANS Internet Storm Center reports,

some well known sites in the UK, Sweden and the Netherlands had been compromised and are infected with the Bofra/IFrame exploit.

This exploit installs spyware on the user's machine, when the site is visited.

If you're using a different Browser like Firefox or Opera, you're safe.

And with Linux, you're safe as well.

The warning is here:

http://isc.sans.org//diary.php?date=2004-11-20

[Guest NRen2k5]

Um, isn't "OMFG don't use IE" already just common sense?

[jadeclaw]

Seeing the access statistics of a few Sites I'm doing work on, I guess, common sense goes out the window, when a computer is involved.

Even government agencies and the coalminers union here in Germany warn against using IE, it hasn't helped either...

[dex Otaku]

It probably has a lot to do with several "silly" factors:

1) A lot of people can't figure out how to download something like Firefox and install it. Or at least - not how to do so properly.

2) Installing software on a business or government computer usually requires a sysadmin to come login and do so for you, or for them to install it on the server and update everyone's desktop to include the icon. For them to do this, they often need not just permission, but "orders" to do so.

3) A lot of places have things set up so people can't install software [requiring admin accounts] but no one in their actuall offices even knows how to log in as an admin, or they lack the credentials, and they have no local sysadmin.

These are the usual cases here. Which is funny, because it makes government offices [municipal, provincial, and federal alike] and high-profile businesses among the least-secure networks in existence.