Warning: Internet Explorer Zero-Day Bug Goes Public

As we expected, attacks against unpatched web browsers are to gain momentum according to security researchers which have examined the latest exploit code within Internet Explorer which may have gone public.

Internet Explorer is one of the main targets for attacks against unpatched bugs that could allow a hacker to gain access to an affected system. Microsoft has warned users of vulnerabilities within Internet Explorer 6 and 7 just the other day issuing the Microsoft Security Advisory (981374). Even before then, Microsoft had acknowledged a newer VBScript exploit being able to plant malware on Windows XP systems.

Hackers are using certain versions of Internet Explorer that have certain vulnerabilities in order to launch drive-by attacks from malicious web sites. Computer users who may be running older versions of IE such as Internet Explorer 6 and 7 are more prone to becoming a victim of these drive-by attacks. Simply visiting a malicious page using IE can infect a users system in some cases.

Researchers and security experts suggest that the exploit code was posted publicly which makes us believe that similar attacks will grow to unprecedented numbers while other hackers are easily able to obtain the code. Microsoft may scramble to come up with a fix in a hurry which only supports our theory that the exploit has gone public.

In the meantime, computer users are still advised to either utilize an alternative web browser to Internet Explorer 6 or 7 until a patch is available to the latest IE exploit code. Upgrading to IE8 or modifying access to the iepeers.dll to disable scripting (not recommended for novice computer users) is also a solution in the interim that you may want to also consider.

We suspect that hackers will ramp up their efforts to attack systems through other yet-to-be discovered vulnerabilities within older versions of Internet Explorer. Do you use IE? If so, which version do you use and do you plan on upgrading or moving to another web browser application because of the recent security vulnerability attacks?