Microsoft’s Internet Explorer flaw behind Google’s security breach

I haven’t been tracking this story closely enough to realize an IE security issue caused the security breach of Google’s corporate network. One pretty simple solution is to change browsers. I was never enamored with Firefox, but finally tried out Google’s Chrome browser in August and have never looked back.

The lesson, as always with online security, is to make sure you have all your patches up to date and do seriously consider capable products to replace known security sieves like IE.

From the first link:

Microsoft (MSFT) is scrambling to patch an Internet Explorer flaw that was used to hack into Google’s (GOOG) corporate networks last month. The attack was used to hack into networks at 34 companies, including Adobe (ADBE), security experts say. Typically such hacks involve several such attacks, but the IE bug is the only one definitively linked to the hacking incident, which security experts say originated in China.

In a security advisory released Thursday, Microsoft said IE 6 users on Windows XP are most at risk from the flaw, but that other users could be affected by modified versions of the attack. Microsoft said it is developing a fix, but it did not say when it expects to patch the issue. The company is slated to release its next set of security updates on Feb. 9. A Google spokesman confirmed Thursday that the Internet Explorer attack was used against Google and that the company then reported the issue to Microsoft.

Google learned of the issue in December and, after discovering the server used to control the hacked computers, notified other companies affected by the hack. Apparently convinced that the infiltration was sanctioned by the Chinese government, Google has threatened to effectively pull its business out of China.

Hit these links for more background on the actual security breach.

Is China committing massive corporate cyber espionage?

Looks like all that recent Google news has a bit deeper, and broader, roots than first reports indicated.

From the second link:

It’s a problem that the U.S. lawmakers have complained about loudly. In the corporate world, online attacks that appear to come from China have been an ongoing problem for years, but big companies haven’t said much about this, eager to remain in the good graces of the world’s powerhouse economy.

Google, by implying that Beijing had sponsored the attack, has placed itself in the center of an international controversy, exposing what appears to be a state-sponsored corporate espionage campaign that compromised more than 30 technology, financial and media companies, most of them global Fortune 500 enterprises.

The U.S. government is taking the attack seriously. Late Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton released a statement asking the Chinese government to explain itself, saying that Google’s allegations “raise very serious concerns and questions.”

“The ability to operate with confidence in cyberspace is critical in a modern society and economy,” she said.