Internet Explorer

Hackers Find First Post-Retirement Windows XP-Related Vulnerability

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– Hackers find first post-retirement Windows XP-related vulnerability (Computerworld, April 27, 2014):

Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 8 arent being exploited yet, but harbor a critical flaw

Computerworld – Microsoft on Saturday told customers that cyber-criminals are exploiting an unpatched and critical vulnerability in Internet Explorer (IE) using “drive-by” attacks.

“Microsoft is aware of limited, targeted attacks that attempt to exploit a vulnerability in Internet Explorer 6, Internet Explorer 7, Internet Explorer 8, Internet Explorer 9, Internet Explorer 10, and Internet Explorer 11,” the company said in a security advisory.

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Zbigniew Brzezinski: ‘Global Political Awakening’ Making Syrian War Difficult

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– ?Brzezinski: ‘Global Political Awakening’ Making Syrian War Difficult (Storyleak, Aug 29, 2013):

During a short interview with Germany’s DW News last Monday, former US National Security Adviser and Trilateral Commission co-founder Zbigniew Brzezinski commented on the growing inefficiency of war due to the increased political knowledge of the public.

“Given the contemporary reality of what I have called in my writings ‘Global Political Awakening,’ a policy of force based primarily on Western and in some cases former colonial powers does not seem to me a very promising avenue to an eventual solution to the regional problem,” said Brzezinski, referring to the situation in Syria.

Despite Brzezinski’s noted long-term relationship with Obama which included a top foreign policy adviser position, Brzezinski denied any specific knowledge of his plans regarding Syria, saying that if the administration has a strategy, it’s a “very well-kept secret.”

Obama’s Middle Eastern strategy has been a mere continuation of the policies seen under Bush, exemplified by former four star general and NATO commander Wesley Clark’s admission of the Bush-era Pentagon plan to overthrow several countries including Libya and Syria.

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Mozilla: Microsoft Bans Firefox On ARM-Based Windows

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– Microsoft bans Firefox on ARM-based Windows, Mozilla says (CNET News, May 9, 2012):

Raising the specter of last-generation browser battles, Mozilla launches a publicity campaign to seek a place for browsers besides IE on Windows devices using ARM chips.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Microsoft muscles aside other browsers and cements the dominance of Internet Explorer. The browser market, deprived of competition, stagnates.

That, of course, is what happened during the first browser war of the 1990s and beyond, on personal computers. Today, Mozilla’s top lawyer warned that Microsoft’s behavior threatens a repeat of history, because it’s telling Mozilla that it’s barring Firefox from forthcoming Windows 8 machines that use ARM processors.

“They’re trying to make a new version of their operating system which denies their users choice, competition, and innovation,” said Harvey Anderson, Mozilla’s general counsel. “Making IE the only browser on that platform is a complete return to the digital dark ages when there was only one browser on the Windows platform.”

Anderson has been discussing the matter with his counterparts at Microsoft, but the company hasn’t budged, he said. Anderson also detailed concerns in a blog post.

Microsoft declined to comment for this story.

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Hackers target freshly-uncovered Internet Explorer hole

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internet-explorer

Microsoft on Tuesday warned that hackers are targeting a freshly-uncovered weakness in some earlier versions of its Internet Explorer (IE) Web browser software.

Microsoft said it is investigating a hole that cyber attackers are taking advantage of in IE 6 and IE 7.

“At this time, we are aware of targeted attacks attempting to use this vulnerability,” Microsoft said in an advisory posted along with a routine release of patches for Windows and Office software.

“We will continue to monitor the threat environment and update this advisory if this situation changes.”

Hackers could use the flaw to remotely seize control of computers. The new IE 8 Web browser and an old IE 5 version are not affected, according to the US software colossus.

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German government warns against using Internet Explorer

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internet-explorer-logo The warning applies to versions 6, 7 and 8 of Internet Explorer

The German government has warned web users to find an alternative browser to Internet Explorer to protect security.

The warning from the Federal Office for Information Security comes after Microsoft admitted IE was the weak link in recent attacks on Google’s systems.

Microsoft rejected the warning, saying that the risk to users was low and that the browsers’ increased security setting would prevent any serious risk.

However, German authorities say that even this would not make IE fully safe.

Thomas Baumgaertner, a spokesman for Microsoft in Germany, said that while they were aware of the warning, they did not agree with it, saying that the attacks on Google were by “highly motivated people with a very specific agenda”.

“These were not attacks against general users or consumers,” said Mr Baumgaertner.

“There is no threat to the general user, consequently we do not support this warning,” he added.

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