French and German authorities recommend to stop using Internet Explorer. They warn users about a security flaw affecting the web browser and which involves version 6, 7 and 8. Pending the resolution from Microsoft part, France and Germany belong to the states which have taken action.
A vulnerability on Internet Explorer- Microsoft has acknowledged that there is a vulnerability in its Internet Explorer on the 14th of January. This vulnerability does not cause damage in itself, but it opens a gap exploited by hackers. This happened for Google in China last week. Thus, to avert potential problems and pending the publication of a patch from Microsoft, the Certa (The French Center of Expertise to response and handle computer attacks) "recommends using an alternative browser". In Germany, the BSI (Federal agency responsible for security in information technology) made the same recommendation.
Internet Explorer, a proprietary solution- This situation would probably not have ocured with an Open Source browser or it would not have lasted such a long time (several days until now). Indeed, contrary to Open Source systems with which you have communities of developers and programmers contributing to fix occurring bugs, for Internet Explorer (which constitutes a proprietary model), anybody but Microsoft has got the source code. The Redmond firm is the only one able to fix it.
Anyway, this is a very bad buzz for the Redmond firm whose market share melt gradually in favor of Firefox, Konqueror, Chrome or Safari...
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