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Thread: CERT recommends anything but IE

  1. #1
    AO übergeek phishphreek's Avatar
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    CERT recommends anything but IE

    CERT recommends anything but IE

    By John Oates, The Register Jun 28 2004 7:38AM

    US CERT (the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team), is advising people to ditch Internet Explorer and use a different browser after the latest security vulnerability in the software was exposed.

    A statement on the CERT site said: "There are a number of significant vulnerabilities in technologies relating to the IE domain/zone security model, the DHTML object model, MIME type determination, and ActiveX. It is possible to reduce exposure to these vulnerabilities by using a different web browser, especially when browsing untrusted sites." CERT otherwise recommends users to set security settings to high and disable JavaScript

    Malicious code, dubbed variously as "Scob" or "Download.Ject", originally posted last week on a Russian website, could be downloaded secretly onto websites using Microsoft's Internet Information Server 5.0. The code could then be used to log keystrokes made by visitors to the site - so long as they used Internet Explorer as their browser. Information, including passwords, was then to be emailed to the criminals behind the atack.

    Microsoft said that it was unaware of widespread consumer impact and noted that the Russian site had been taken offline. It said some enterprise users of Windows 2000 Server, specifically users running IIS 5.0, were being targeted by "Download.Ject". According to MS, this is not a trojan or worm but "a targeted manual attack by individuals or entities towards a specific server". It said users should use a firewall, ensure they have the latest software updates and use anti-virus software.

    Bill Gates, Microsoft chairman, called on users to switch on auto-update so that patches would spread faster. Speaking to Reuters in Australia at the weekend, he vowed to "guarantee that the average time to fix will come down. The thing we have to do is not only get these patches done very quickly...we also have to convince people to turn on auto-update."®
    http://www.securityfocus.com/printable/news/8998

    We've all been hearing about and seeing these vulnerabilities for IE as long as I can remember.
    How does Bill Gates "solution" solve this problem? Turning on auto-update?

    Lets see... if they don't have the service packs... and they are on dial up... it'll take them approx 10hrs of online time to download the service packs. Thats assuming that they do NOTHING but download the updates. Thats just for XP SP1... XP SP2 is even larger than SP1...

    I *don't think* that service packs will even be downloaed via auto-update... but its been a while since I've checked.

    Granted: They can still download and install critical updates but they can still take hours to download on dial up... and severely lags the internet connection.

    They've got to come up with a better solution... like... Gates should provide a high speed internet connection for all users of the m$ OS so they can get updates in a quick and timely manner.

    For now.. we'll have to take CERTs advice... anything BUT IE.

    Sad thing is: some people are forced to use IE because some developers think that active X and everything in the browser is much better than a stand alone program...
    Quitmzilla is a firefox extension that gives you stats on how long you have quit smoking, how much money you\'ve saved, how much you haven\'t smoked and recent milestones. Very helpful for people who quit smoking and used to smoke at their computers... Helps out with the urges.

  2. #2
    Windows only browsers
    http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/

    NOTE: MyIE2 and advant browsers do not count because they still use the IE rendering engine and DLL calls, thus making their core vunerable.

    Windows and linux browsers
    http://www.netscape.com
    http://www.opera.com/
    http://www.mozilla.org/
    http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/
    http://lynx.browser.org/

    Linux only browsers (for those who used IE through wine):
    http://www.gnome.org/projects/epiphany/
    http://www.konqueror.org/
    http://galeon.sourceforge.net/


    Comparison websites
    http://my.opera.com/community/articl...rs/comparison/
    http://www.greymagic.com/dagon/results.html

  3. #3
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    Turning on auto-update won't do jack unless the update actually work's (and come's before the user get's infected) I always love Bill Gates' desperate attempt to cover his ass at time's like these.

    For now.. we'll have to take CERTs advice... anything BUT IE.
    Yeh, well sadly almost all regular home user's prefer IE for it's simplicity and readiness. Now remember, these are your average home user's, they aren't security-minded people who don't just "go for what's there".
    Space For Rent.. =]

  4. #4
    Originally posted here by Spyder32
    Yeh, well sadly almost all regular home user's prefer IE for it's simplicity and readiness. Now remember, these are your average home user's, they aren't security-minded people who don't just "go for what's there".

    Very true, very true indeed. There are still a lot of home users who know that when I click on the little icon that says 'Internet Explorer,' the Internet comes up. They know nothing about the security risks of IE, heck, they might not even know that Internet Explorer is a 'web-browser.' They know nothing of alternative web-browsers such as Firefox, Opera, etc. As Spyder mentioned, IE is "there" so I'll use it! And unfortunately, because of the insecurity of IE, junk like this can easily spread.
    - Maverick

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    Heh, if I hadn't greened ya on that other thread I woulda greened ya here Maverick811 But yeah, it's the lack of awareness and knowledge of it that always get's the average home user. Plus ya gotta understand, when people install there computer for the first time, they don't want to have to install another browser (even if they know there are other option's) merely for the fact that (like I said, as well as you) that it's just there. Now if they were alerted about all the security risk's that come with it, perhap's it would steer them in a better direction to another browser.
    Space For Rent.. =]

  6. #6
    Heh, if I hadn't greened ya on that other thread I woulda greened ya here Maverick811
    Hey, appreciate those anyway...

    But yeah, it's the lack of awareness and knowledge of it that always get's the average home user. Plus ya gotta understand, when people install there computer for the first time, they don't want to have to install another browser (even if they know there are other option's) merely for the fact that (like I said, as well as you) that it's just there. Now if they were alerted about all the security risk's that come with it, perhap's it would steer them in a better direction to another browser.
    Case in point - just ordered a new PC for a friend of mine, was getting everything all setup at his house and told him that I was installing another web browser for him - Firefox. After I had to explain what a web browser was, I then had to go on and explain why exactly I was installing another browser for him. Will he actually use Firefox over IE? I hope so, but how many other users who are still out there are using IE because they don't know any better or what we keep saying, "because it's there?" A fair number I'd say....
    - Maverick

  7. #7
    AO übergeek phishphreek's Avatar
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    Will he actually use Firefox over IE?
    Sure... if you remove all visible references to IE and put firefox everywhere...

    Oh, make firefox the default web browser in control panel --> add/remove programs --> set program access and defaults...
    So, when he clicks on a link... firefox is loaded and not IE.
    Quitmzilla is a firefox extension that gives you stats on how long you have quit smoking, how much money you\'ve saved, how much you haven\'t smoked and recent milestones. Very helpful for people who quit smoking and used to smoke at their computers... Helps out with the urges.

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    Sure... if you remove all visible references to IE and put firefox everywhere...
    That's like saying to Microsoft "two can play that game" (refering to shoving their product's in your face and removing the competition) . But I'm all for it!
    Space For Rent.. =]

  9. #9
    AO übergeek phishphreek's Avatar
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    Yep.. thats exactly the reason m$ was FORCED to put in that feature.

    If it was up to them... you wouldn't be able to do it...

    I believe that this can only be done with 2K/XP and 2K3 though...
    (the set program access and defaults)
    Quitmzilla is a firefox extension that gives you stats on how long you have quit smoking, how much money you\'ve saved, how much you haven\'t smoked and recent milestones. Very helpful for people who quit smoking and used to smoke at their computers... Helps out with the urges.

  10. #10
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    Nope. Available in 98 (and 95)
    Space For Rent.. =]

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