Microsoft Admits Security Flaw, Reports CSM

According to Andrew Heining, writing on the Christian Science Monitor's technology blog Innovation:

There’s a critical security hole in Internet Explorer, the world’s most popular web browser.

The unpatched vulnerability, first discovered by hackers and recently acknowledged by Microsoft, could allow someone to gain access to a computer through a website that executes a malicious code. Some 10,000 sites have been compromised so far, putting passwords, financial data, and other sensitive information at risk.

In a lengthy security advisory memo on its website, Microsoft urges users to change their “Internet zone security setting” to “high” and to run the browser in “Protected Mode.”

According to the post, savvy surfers can protect their machines, "[b]ut the easier solution may just be to drop IE."

With alternate browsers Firefox and Google's Chrome gaining in popularity, Microsoft's dominance of the browser market may be at an end.