Microsoft has issued a patch to its Internet Explorer(IE) and has urged all its Windows Operating system users to security update their browsers as soon as possible. The fix was released on an urgent note by the Redmond Giant as the vulnerability has been actively exploited by hackers at the international level.
The software giant mentioned in its latest blog post that it released the security update based on the tip-off by Google’s Threat Analysis Group. The vulnerability (ID CVE-2018-8653) is said to affect IE 11 Browsers used on Windows 7 and Windows 10 as well as the Windows server OS versions 2012,2016 and 2019.
Those using IE 9 on Windows server 2008 and IE 10 on Windows Server 2012 are also being asked to update their browsers with the latest fix.
As per the technicalities released by Microsoft, hackers were seen exploiting ‘memory corruption flaw’ to trap users and track their data when they visited a malicious website via IE browser. Furthermore, the flaw is reported to allow attackers to gain access to the entire device if the user opens the website with admin credentials.
“A remote execution flaw exists in the way that the scripting engine handles objects in memory of IE. Hence, the flaw allows hackers to install programs, view, change or delete data or create new accounts with full admin rights” says Microsoft.
However, the company assures that those PCs which have their Windows Update enabled will get the security update on an automated note and so will remain protected from all such flaws.
Now, to those who have a question lingering in their mind that who in the world are still using the problematic and always freezing Internet Explorer, here’s some notes.
IE was the world’s most popular browser till 2016 when Google’s chrome swept most of the market followed by Firefox – as it allows anonymous browsing to most extent.
Analytics firm StatCounter says that the year 2018 witnessed only 8% of market share for Microsoft Internet Explorer. And the percentage is said to further dip in 2019 as the software giant is planning to rebuild its Edge Browser on Chrome tech, giving it a Chromium refresh by March’19.
So, who knows the rejig might make the Microsoft Edge Browser a top star after 2019 easily surpassing its competitors like Firefox and Chrome.