The German government has recommended people avoid using Internet Explorer until Microsoft provides a patch to fix a "critical" security flaw that allowed a cyber attack against Google.
The Bonn-based Federal Office for Information Security said attacks by hackers "cannot be fully prevented" even if users run the browser in "safety mode," according to a statement posted late yesterday on the office's website.
Google said on January 12th it may close its offices in China after being attacked by hackers.
Microsoft issued an emergency alert on January 14th to help users avoid a flaw in Explorer that helped the attack. The software company said it's working with Google, partners and authorities to investigate the issue.
The code exploiting a flaw in Explorer was posted on at least one website, George Kurtz, McAfee's chief technology officer, said on Friday in a blog posting.
The code being distributed by online criminals is especially deadly on older systems running Microsoft's Windows XP and Internet Explorer 6, Mr Kurtz wrote.
Computers could become compromised when users viewed infected websites or clicked on banner advertisements that delivered malicious code, Microsoft said. The company has suggested users set their Internet security zone to "high" to reduce their vulnerability to attacks.
Bloomberg