The US department of Homeland Security has asked users to shun the usage of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Fire Eye Research Lab, an Internet security software company, announced the presence of the Internet Explorer bug on Saturday. There is no viable solution available for the time being to negate the bug. So, the government has asked users to opt for an alternative to it till the company fixes this blunder.
This is the first bug to have emerged ever since Microsoft discontinued giving out security updates for Windows XP, which was earlier this month. This has not only turned the PCs running on Windows XP quite vulnerable to this security breach, but has also left scope for total compromise of your affected PC, even if Microsoft releases Internet Explorer updates to add a layer of protection. However, it is not known if Microsoft will release a patch for this vulnerability. Meanwhile, you can safeguard your system from malicious attacks by simply disabling the Adobe flash plug-in within Internet Explorer.
Internet Explorer version 6 to 11 are highly vulnerable to the attack, however, at present only Internet Explorer 9 and Internet Explorer 10 are being targeted. About 55% of PCs across the globe run Internet Explorer; the best alternative at the moment is to run other browsers such as Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. Also, make sure that you are using an updated version of good antivirus software.
Another sensible option for Windows XP users at the moment is to upgrade their operating system to Windows 7 or Windows 8. That way, they can be saved from the security breach, which might follow if not handled properly. Recently, Symantec Corporation has come forward to lend a helping hand. They are providing protection tools to Windows XP users (on their official blog) to mitigate this issue.
