访谈录 2008-12-23&12-25 微软的浏览器安全漏洞（在线收听）

…Here is what Microsoft is saying about this security flaw on their website: "The vulnerability exists as an invalid pointer reference in the data binding function of Internet Explorer,” which sounds terribly complicated to me. “We are actively investigating the vulnerability and we will take (the) appropriate action to protect our customers." It's only Internet Explorer 7 that’s affected. This is Internet Explorer 6. There is no guarantee that this version of the browser isn't affected either.

It’s mostly affecting gaming sites at the moment. Effectively hackers are able to put a bit of code onto an affected gaming site, that is, able to extract things like password and account details from your version of Internet Explorer. I am not suggesting the World of Warcraft is affected, but I’m just showing you as illustration here. Of course, that leaves the worry that it’s only another step forward for hackers to then target bank websites, so they can steal our banking details. Experts are suggesting that until Microsoft fixes this flaw, you might want to try out any one of the other browsers that are out there.

This is Google's Chrome, which looks very much like Internet Explorer. This is Firefox’s Mozilla, or Mozilla’s Firefox rather. Again it looks very much like Internet Explorer. And you may think that Apple's Safari only runs on Mac, you'd be wrong. There’s a PC version too. This is what Safari looks like on a PC.

So, em, maybe time to, er, to give it a go and download one of these free internet explorers, one of them from other manufacturers other than Microsoft until all of this is over