If there’s a problem with some product which puts you at risk, you’d expect news bulletins to explain your safest options, yeah? But is that possible when the media outlet is a key business partner of the product’s manufacturer?
Microsoft released an emergency patch to their Internet Explorer web browser yesterday and, yes, the threat is real. It’s a so-called “zero day exploit”, which means the bad guys already had automated tools to take advantage of this flaw before Microsoft even knew the problem existed. Tens of thousands of hacked websites are loaded with those tools now, ready to infect your computer just by visiting them.
They may not even be websites that, erm, you wouldn’t tell your mum about. Last year the Sydney Opera House’s site was hacked in just this way, potentially infecting any of their 300,000 monthly web visitors who might be unprotected. It was weeks before anyone realised.
If you use Windows, even if you use another web browser, patch now! But if you were watching Channel Nine news last night, did you get the full picture?
“Most IT experts are saying the only solution is don’t turn on your computer,” said Nine. Well, no. You could disable active scripting instead, or use another web browser like Firefox or Opera.
Nine didn’t mention other web browsers. Instead, the next not-quite-right statement was that “89% of all web users” use Internet Explorer. Now 89% is Microsoft’s market share in desktop and laptop operating systems, and Internet Explorer is installed on all those computers. But millions of people use other web browsers. The proportion of mainstream website visitors using Internet Explorer is typically 60 to 70%.
“Microsoft products are being constantly improved and updated,” Nine concluded. A nice free kick for Microsoft, but it ignores that fact that all software products need continual updates to fix newly-discovered security flaws, and that it can be argued that Windows’ less-than-modular structure makes it inherently more vulnerable to these problems than Apple’s OS X or open-source systems like Linux.
Now this all might be because Nine’s journalists, like most others, are pretty clueless about computers and simply regurgitate media releases. But could it also be because Nine and Microsoft are 50/50 business partners in one of Australia’s most-visited websites, NineMSN. We’ll never know. And that’s the problem.
Its good to see that Crikey’s little advertising deal with Microsoft didn’t get in the way of this story…also of note was the story as reported by Aunty @ noon yesterday with a live interview with an internet security expert evolved into a sound bite from Microsoft itself by the end of the day, laden with all the usual Microsoft crud. Of course Aunty has a close relationship with Microsoft too.
I’m sure this confusion is encouraged by Microsoft. I used to get a lot of emails from well-meaning friends warning of this or that ‘computer’ virus. I would then research the threat and inevitably email these friends back to report that it wasn’t a ‘computer’, i.e. a virus that threatened all computers, but just a virus that threatened those computers unfortunate enough to be loaded with Windows and/or Internet Explorer.
Some, of course, thought that I was just being a smug, mac-using bastard, which I was.
But others, were genuinely surprised: “You mean this only infects Microsoft products? They made it sound like all computers were in danger.” To which I replied, “Of course, that’s what they want you to think. If it’s everyone’s problem, then what can poor old Microsoft do? But if it is a MICROSOFT problem, people might just expect Microsoft to do more than fix it, they might expect them to stop it happening in the first place.”
Its all so painfully simple and dead easy.
Chuck out Internet Explorer as soon as you have finished reading this, if Crikey let it through the gatekeeper.
Hook-up to Firefox or Safari. Even better……. get a Macintosh and stop all this bloody nonsense. I run a trojan horse detector about once a month and never find anything worth worrying about. Viruses? Not since 1989 ( when I switched from a dog to a purring cat), now its called a leopard and has the speed of one.
I wonder if the browser being promoted by Google called ‘chrome’ (?) which sounds a bit like a razor scooter, is any good? I also wonder if nice tough firewalls not via Microsoft are already providing security support for this Microsoft/IE issue, or is it a matter of only Microsoft being able to send the ‘patch’? Suffice to say I’m not using IE today.
There is a nice joke about Microsoft and an auto maker sledging eachother – something about old economy identifying irresponsible product liability of computer makers getting away with regulatory murder due to inevitable consumer disapointment. On the other hand the internet really is competition with cars. You can do so much and ‘travel’ so far on the net.
I’ve been wondering if this is in fact one subtext to current economic woes? Consumer migration to the web crashing not just traditional media business models?
I met a guy in internet retail of general goods here in Oz. He said the last few months they are still on a very moderate but still positive sales uptrend while bricks and mortar retail are definitely downward trend. Thought his job was pretty safe with little child in tow.