Big IE hole. Who to believe? TrendMicro or Bit9?

December 18, 2008 by Curt Siters

Just a few days ago the BBC reported, and a few days later the US media followed suit, about a major security hole in Internet Explorer that has existed since the beginning of IE. TrendMicro recommended switching from Internet Explorer to FireFox or Safari until the hole could be patched by Microsoft. Yesterday I came across an article where Bit9 says not to switch and gave a list of insecure applications, a top ten list if you will, and lo and behold Microsoft wasn’t on it.

I was shocked to say the least. Just about everyone in the world of Geekdom and many who aren’t know how inherently insecure Microsofts products are. Even though I am not a big fan of Microsoft they could be doing a better job. I know how difficult it is to write an application, let alone something as complicated as an operatings system and getting applications to play nice with each other. Yes there can be problems.

However just to throw something out the door because you are in a rush is really bad business - as a side note did you know that MS shipped Xboxes it new were defective.

On LinkedIn, in one of the groups, someone posted a question about browser security and what people thought. The consensus seemed to be that it isn’t the browsers job to provide security and is best left to firewalls and smart browsing.

I agree with that, however, that doesn’t absolve the software company of its obligation to produce a product that potentially causes someone harm, within reason. For example, a browser cannot, nor should it, stop anyone from visiting any site they choose. However, a browser should also not allow a person with malicious, or even curious, intent from gaining acces to the computer the browser is on.

Very simply it is a matter of quality control. With a company as big as Microsoft there really isn’t a reason why they cannot find these problems before they become a problem. They have pockets deep enough that that could hire some of these hackers to constantly see how they can break the software.

Simple. I will believe TrendMicro.

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Curt Siters is an Independent Associate for Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. He is also aYoung Living Essential Oils Independent distributor and publishes articles on YourWebReference and at TheVeryEssence. He also does web work such as website design, website maintenance and SEO for websites.

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