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There are some reports that a serious flaw has been found in Microsoft Internet Explorer. They suggest that this flaw couldaffect all versions of Internet Explorer and can lead to hackers gaining access to information and passwords from users computers.

In an article from BBC news it is reportedly advised by a number of security experts that users should seriously consider using other browsers such as Firefox, Opera, Chrome and safari which are not effected by the flaw until the issue has been resolved. To my mind this is maybe panic mongering and it may be more productive to advise users of things to watch out for.

The BBC article goes on to quote Microsofts statement that users should be very vigalent  while they investigate and develope an emergency patch to resolve the issue. The BBC quote the Head of Microsofts UK windows group, Cliff Evans states that it is not time to switch browsers just yet. It goes on to quote that he believes this only appears to affect 0.02% of internet sites. He states that it also seems to affect IE 7 at the moment but could effect other versions in the future.

It would appear that this is serious enough for people to certainly mind their internet use. At the moment it does appear to be confined to hackers stealing gaming passwords but Richard Cox, chief information officer of anti-spam body The Spamhaus Project and an expert on privacy and cyber security and Rick Ferguson, senior security advisor at Trend Micro both appear to be of the opinion that it is only a matter of time before someone engineers this for more sinister purposes.

For my mind I agree with PC Pro magazines security editor  Darien Graham-Smith in that its a pity Microsoft have not found this faster but to get this out in the public domain makes people aware of the situation and allows for vigilence. It is also true to say that it is ok to push for people to move from using Internet Explorer now but as every browser is susceptable to bugs it may be that one of the others has a fault of a similar nature in the future.

For the full BBC article use the following link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7784908.stm.