“Microsoft has made Internet Explorer 7 (IE 7) available to the general public,” BBC News reports. “The new version is the first upgrade to the web browsing program for more than five years.”
“New features include tabbed browsing, the ability to search the net directly and an anti-fraud system to thwart phishing attacks,” The Beeb reports. “The new program is available as a free download on 19 October, but many will get it as an automatic update to Windows XP in November.”
Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 7 is “seen as an attempt by Microsoft to catch up with rival browsers as it includes features that have long been seen in competitors such as Firefox and Opera,” The Beeb reports.
MacDailyNews Note: And Apple’s Safari which, of course, The Beeb ignores.
The Beeb continues, “With the new version, it is possible to open up tabs rather than windows for new webpages and subscribe to RSS feeds via the browser. One controversial new feature is the addition of a box that lets people search the net directly from the browser rather than through a dedicated webpage. This defaults to Microsoft’s own search engine, but in a last minute change the software company is letting users choose which search site this feature should call upon.”
“IE 7 will also be the default browser for the next version of Microsoft Windows, known as Vista, that is due to be launched in 2007,” The Beeb reports.
Full article here.
Les than 24 hours after release, a vulnerability has already been discovered in Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.x, “which can be exploited by malicious people to disclose potentially sensitive information,” Secunia reports. “The vulnerability is caused due to an error in the handling of redirections for URLs with the “mhtml:” URI handler. This can be exploited to access documents served from another web site.”
Secunia has confirmed the vulnerability on a fully patched system with Internet Explorer 7.0 and Microsoft Windows XP SP2 and says ther versions may also be affected.
Secunia advises users to “disable active scripting support.”
Secunia Advisory here.
MDN, the Beeb is right to ignore Safari until Safari runs on the same platform as IE7.
Flawed software from Microsoft? Hard to believe
BBC news must be paid not to mention anything nice about Apple’s stuff.
Anyways, Safari has google search built into it in the top right corner, so we’ve always had that feature. Hell, even Firefox has it from version 1.0!
Less than 24 hours after release, a vulnerability has already been discovered in Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.x, “which can be exploited by malicious people to disclose potentially sensitive information,” Secunia reports. “The vulnerability is caused due to an error in the handling of redirections for URLs with the “mhtml:” URI handler. This can be exploited to access documents served from another web site.”
Ah good, it’s inferior code as usual by Microsoft
And to think I though it was going to get any better with them.
Any bets when the next exploit is going to be announced?
I say tomorrow.
Gosh in 5 years this is all they can come up with? And the day its released it has an exploit. I cant wait to see what happens to vista on its release day. Headlines read 1000s of compters crash and become unusable due to exploit in windows vista.
Makes you wonder who they have working for them. In 5 years they have updated windws xp once and tried and failed to come out with a new OS, thy have released 1 update to IE.
Im proud to be a mac owner
I am sorry, but this seems like a horrible double standard. If Safari had the same thing written about it, you would say “vulnerabilities are not exploits. where is the proof that this is actually affecting people?” Let’s get some standards together. Is a possible exploit the same as an exploit or not?
didn’t MS say that tabbed browsing was something “their customers didn’t want” ??
Settle down mac-peeps, Apple patches Safari for security flaws too, get your heads out each others asses please.
Right, so only browsers available for Windows count. Or how about this, IE7 will matter only when it is available on Mac OS X?
I thought we were discounting Secunia-reported “vulnerabilities” until they were “exploited.”
“MDN, the Beeb is right to ignore Safari until Safari runs on the same platform as IE7.”
No it’s not. They mentioned rival browsers not windows only browers.
Secunia advises users to “disable active scripting support.”
Jimbo von Winskinheimer advises users to “disable Windows XP ASAP and buy a Mac.”
“No it’s not. They mentioned rival browsers not windows only browers.”
Safari is not a rival to IE7 since the computers that they run on are mutually exclusive. Whereas Firefox is available on both platforms.
I refuse to think that a company as big as Microsoft constantly cannot get it right.
Software engineers at Microsoft are just as smart as Apple engineers…they probably went to the same schools. You learn the same stuff and take the same classes.
I think its the huge computer security industry. If IE7 were nice and secure (which engineers know how to make), then where would Norton and McAfee get their money from?
If you buy into Microsoft, you also buy into intentional security loopholes!
I think maybe there Lazy at working out the Bugs in Redmond. Why can they make the OS and make IE7 Secure. I dont get it. I guess they dont do enough research before releasing final releases of products such as IE7. All they do is make the Os Beautiful with Aero and leave bugs behind. If they keep doing like this. They will start loosing Customers more. Some might switch to Linux or Macs. Since both are Secure without no viruses or Spyware or vulnerability. Bye
and i was gonna start a pool for how long it would take before the first exploit in the “new” IE. i need a wayback machine….
BBBBWWWWWAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!
AlienApple:
To my knowledge, no one has ever discovered a Safari exploit within 24 hours of its release.
And there has never been a successful, real-world “OMG they’ve taken control of my Mac” exploit.
So let us revel in our smugness a bit.
m
Wonder if Ballmer is going: ‘good job guys, ONLY ONE exploit within 24 hours, that’s acceptable’.
I reckon he’s holding his breath with his hand on his heart and praying to goodness that the big zero day Windows virus that melts them all down isn’t going to arrive today…ie a Monkey Boy sleepless in Seattle…
Oh, and I meant to say, Microsoft said THEY were unhappy at Apple’s response to shipping a some Windows viruses on iPods? Ho ho ho…
“Safari is not a rival to IE7 since the computers that they run on are mutually exclusive. Whereas Firefox is available on both platforms.”
Just because one has to buy a different OS to run Safari dosen’t mean it’s not a rival. They’re both browsers, that’s what makes them competitors irregardless of the OS. The article does not say “Windows only browsers”
The lesson to be learned from the iPod Virus event?
Never, EVER come into contact with a syphilitic whore OR a Windows-based PC!
You’re gonna’ catch something if you do!
IE 7: Polish a turd, it’s still a turd.
While there is the perception of a double standard, you really have to look at the two and differentiate them.
A vulnerability/exploit/redirect on Safari has zero chance of executing/installing malicious code without the user giving permission (entering password, etc.) due to Mac OS X’s security.
A vulnerability/exploit/redirect on IE (and now apparantly) and IE7 has a good chance of executing malicious code without user interaction or knowledge, due to the fact that Windows will allow it.
The problem is that not only will IE7 allow execution of remote code and installation of malware, but, as has been shown ad naseum, so will a whole host of other apps as well as the Windows OS itself, ALL WITHOUT USER INTERACTION, PERMISSION, AND APPARENTLY KNOWLEDGE. This is why it is a Window’s problem and not a Mac problem.
So one more time. Why are Mac OS X users so smug about security…because as of this date, it has proven impossible to so compromise a Mac running OS X. It simply has not happened. Will it happen? I don’t know. Do I use a firewall and AV software? You bet, I like to be a good citizen and not forward some windows virus that gets emailed to me from the many windows users who have been compromised.
And as an aside, Safari is not in competion with IE7 on Windows.
IE7 still renders a hell of a lot better and faster than Safari does.
One other thing that Safari can do (if you have the download Safari Enhancer) is set the search engine to one of Google’s foreign language versions, Yahoo, MSN, AltaVista and more. It also enables the fable Debug menu which I’m still exploring, but can allow Safari to identify itself as Mozilla, Mac MSIE 5.22, Windows MSIE 6.0, several versions of Netscape, and Konqueror. Whether or not this allows Safari to get into those fabled MSIE-only websites or not, I’m still working out.