Internet Explorer Bug Squashes Browser Reliability

Internet Explorer (IE) has for years been the bane of the web developer’s existence. It’s refusal to cooperate with standard rules of coding causes anyone who uses IE to see web pages differently – meaning with less features – than the rest of the world.

At the beginning of May, an IE security hole was discovered that could allow hackers to remotely access your computer. This means that even if you have really strong virus protection and firewall, someone can bypass them to attack your computer through IE.

Translation: using Internet Explorer to do anything without a security patch opens your computer up to attack.

To make matters worse for Microsoft, it took over a week for them to have a patch for this problem.

The issue was so bad that the Department of Homeland Security published a report announcing that they were “currently unaware of a practical solution to this problem.” Their site provided a workaround that includes running command prompts. If the technical jargon made your head spin, you should have stopped using IE since you couldn’t fix it.

Newer versions of IE weren’t safer. This bug affected IE 6 through 11.

If you are still running XP and its version of IE, count yourself lucky that you received a security patch. Microsoft graciously included you in this release even though they stopped developing other security updates in April. This means that any other issue found for XP will go unfixed and your computer will be vulnerable to hacking.

The bottom line is that IE is the most problematic browser on the market today because it does not adjust quickly or effectively. Microsoft also installs updates for its browser through the Windows Update program, and these updates may not install automatically depending on your computer settings.

Still not convinced? Check out this article listing seven reasons why Internet Explorer should never be used again.

Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox are much better maintained browsers. Apple’s Safari is also more secure and should be familiar to iPad users.

You’ll probably find features on any of these browsers that you didn’t realize you wanted until you try them. In this instance, change is not only more secure but also could be more productive.

You may think all of this is an overblown scare tactic regarding browser security.

Just remember nothing is scarier than discovering your computer – and all its confidential data – has been hacked.

Samantha Cruff is the Marketing Communications Coordinator at Lawyers Mutual. Contact Samantha for information regarding our available risk management publications at 800.662.8843 or samantha@lawyersmutualnc.com.