Dept of Homeland Security says"dont use explorer."

[Guest]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...tc_cmp/22103407



That there is a multitude of good reasons not to use IE, is not news to regulars here, but I though this story was interesting.

[Urza-DSF]

no text

[Guest]

nt

[Kevin]

For those not aware CERT has been around much longer than the Department of Homeland Security, it was one of those agencies that was folded into Homeland Security.

If you want to see the actual CERT post go here: http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/713878

I can't find the MS response right now though.

Or course Mozilla based browsers become nearly as vulnerable if you install the ActiveX plugin for it as well. The CERT doc talks about that too though.

[Artega]

Internet Explorer is the the quintessential Windows application: it's fast, easy, and insecure. Therefore, by using a secure, open-source browser like Firefox, you're betraying your good buddies at Microsoft. ("Microsoft," by the way, is a term for small cybernetic implant used in the book Neuromancer by William Gibson.  Apparently Mr. Gates was nerding out one day, while reading his science fiction novels, and discovered something new he could steal and use to his own benefit.) Moreover, using a browser other than Internet Explorer just isn't in the true Microsoft spirit. So use it, and enjoy it; don't worry about the flaws, becasue they're there for the better. You just trust us and have a good day.

Sincereley,
David Kox (MS PR VP)

Consider that a translation for the imminent "the media is lying" response from Microsoft ^_^

[Archon_Wing]

Yes, but Active X becomes optional in Mozilla. Even with high security settings in IE, it may not be enough to shut ActiveX completely. Also, you get an annoying warning message when you do block activeX. Plus the numerous other random vulerabilities that aren't related to ActiveX. Even if Mozilla or whatever should be compormised, it is not as big as a deal because they are not integrated into Windows like Internet Explorer is. If Internet Explorer becomes compormised, your entire operating system is at risk. You could reinstall Windows... but reinstalling a browser is much easier.

Hopefully, MS wil come around to fix these troubles, although there will probaly be 1000 more when they finish.

[Kevin]

Yeah, I was simply pointing out that it wasn't just IE. IE is worse for security (and many other things) by far, but I didn't want people to think that just because they had a Mozilla based browser they were safe. I think the ActiveX plugin for Mozilla is just an idiotic thing, but oh well.

I'm a Firefox/bird user myself, since like 0.5 I believe.

[Archon_Wing]

Well, for the most part, Moziila/Opera + a little common sense= safe in the majority of cases. I wouldn't say Mozilla is the holy grail of anything, but I can use it with no worries.

Now there's always those people who will always open email attachments from all random emails, and those people will always find themselves to be unsafe, though. :)

[Omni]

I think it's worth mentioning that pre-SP2 IE and post-SP2 IE are pretty different in terms of security. Everybody should install XP SP2 RC2, not just techie types.