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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3840101.stm
Users are being told to avoid using Internet Explorer until Microsoft
patches a serious security hole in it.
The loophole is being exploited to open a backdoor on a PC that could let
criminals take control of a machine.

The threat of infection is so high because the code created to exploit the
loophole has somehow been placed on many popular websites.

Experts say the list of compromised sites involves banks, auction and price
comparison firms and is growing fast.

Serious problem

The net watchdog, the US Computer Emergency Reponse Center (Cert), and the
net security monitor, the Internet Storm Center, have both issued warnings
about the combined threat of compromised websites and browser loophole.

Cert said: "Users should be aware that any website, even those that may be
trusted by the user, may be affected by this activity and thus contain
potentially malicious code."

In its round-up of the threat the Internet Storm Center bluntly stated that
users should if possible "use a browser other then MS Internet Explorer
until the current vulnerabilities in MSIE are patched."

Times like these I envy AOL users (Once in a blue moon).

I heard about this hole in IE for a while now, but I haven't experienced any
problems. Saying that I did catch someone trying to upload a Trojan on my
comp the other day when I was surfing. Don't know if they are both
connected. '-)

LJ