New flaw in Explorer discovered
29 January 2004
Another security hole has been discovered in Internet Explorer, meaning that users could be opening files that appear safe but are in fact whatever the sender wants them to be, such as executables.
Experts have warned that it is only a matter of imagination in getting people to freely download what could be an extremely dangerous virus, such as the MyDoom worm wreaking havoc on the Internet at the moment.
Reportedly, the new hole found by security company Secunia could in fact be combined with a previously discovered flaw, creating even more problems, as that allowed fake address and status bars to be created.
A Microsoft representative told CNET News that it was investigating the report but was not currently aware of any exploits involving the supposed flaw and criticised security companies for publicising problems before software makers can effectively investigate and solve them.
Users could also be tricked by web sites, whereby a malicious sites owner could deliberately misidentify a file so that it appears secure. Therefore users could end up thinking they were visiting a site with safe files when in fact the opposite was true
A demonstration of the hole is currently displayed on the Secunia website and a bulletin of tips to avoid such sites and spoofs is on the Microsoft site.
Security experts have already criticised Microsoft for not acting on the previously discovered hole yet.
Although the hole was found in version 6 of IE, security companies are warning it could possibly be in earlier versions too.
Users are being advised to type URL addresses into the address bar themselves rather than clicking on hyperlinks and to save files to a folder and then look at them.
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