French and German government agencies have told people they should ditch Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser, at least temporarily, because of a security hole that hackers are thought to have exploited on recent cyberattacks against Google and other companies. What should you do?

Switching to an alternative Web browser like Firefox or Google Chrome is one possibility. For now, security companies like McAfee have only identified the latest security exploit as an Internet Explorer issue, but there’s no guarantee that they won’t find vulnerabilities in other browsers that were involved in the broad attack on Google and others.

Generally speaking, a browser switch is going to be a lot easier for an individual than it will be for corporate users, where IT policies often dictate which browser people use on their computers. Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant and security firm Sophos, said in a blog post Monday that companies may cause “more problems than it’s worth by summarily switching browsers” because of the potential for employee confusion and Web site compatibility problems caused by the new software.

“My advice is to only switch from Internet Explorer if you really know what you are doing with the browser you’re swapping to,” Mr. Cluley said. “Otherwise it might be a case of ‘better the devil you know.’”

For people who don’t want to or can’t move to another browser from Internet Explorer, they should upgrade to the latest version of the software, Internet Explorer 8. While that version of the browser is also technically vulnerable to the security flaw it contains features that minimize the threat, Microsoft says.

And if switching to IE 8 isn’t an option, users with earlier versions of the browser, like IE 6, should adjust their security settings to “high,” which also reduces the risk of running malicious code, Microsoft says. There’s more in blog posts from Microsoft and McAfee describing the hack and precautions for users.

The Journal also posted a list of other common sense security tips on staying safe on the Internet.

Go to Source