Greg's Corner

New malware attacks millions of Internet Explorer users

A new form of malware has infected millions of users of the Internet Explorer browser. The malware uses flaws in Explorer along with Adobe Flash in order to gain access to the user’s email passwords through keylogging and taking screen shots.

The malware, called Stegano, infects users through an ad for something called ‘Browser Defense’ of ‘Broxu’. You don’t even have to click on the ad for your computer to become infected if you are using Explorer.

In case you were wondering this story is actually from 2016 and not 2002. So in this day and age why are people still using Internet Explorer? Microsoft doesn’t even want you to use Explorer anymore as they have replaced it with the Edge browser as of Windows 10. Explorer has been notorious for being insecure for many years.

Instead of using Explorer, try using one of the many alternate browsers like Firefox and Chrome. Both of these browsers have plugins that can not only block ads, which is where a lot of malware comes from, they can also block Flash, whose security flaws are also well-known.

And if it’s your parents or grandma who are still using Explorer use this little trick to make them think they’re still using Explorer while keeping them safe.