UK Government Denies Upgrading From IE6

The UK government is continuing to use Internet Explorer (IE) 6 as its default browser despite the fact that a petition has been signed by 6,000 people who are urging it to upgrade to a more secure version of the browser, as per the news published by V3 on August 2, 2010.

Security experts have mentioned that Microsoft 1E6 is a serious security risk. In addition, various European governments have warned citizens in the beginning of 2010 not to use IE6. The warning came in wake of Google confirmation of a hack on its services. Google believed that the hacking attacks emanated from China and carried out through a vulnerability in IE6.

Besides, Microsoft warned in January 2010 users of IE6 browser to protect their computers against vulnerability which might enable an attacker to execute malicious code. In March 2010, Microsoft issued a warning about the vulnerability in IE6 which enabled cyber criminals to perform malicious code execution, highlighting another strong reason for the users to upgrade to Microsoft's latest browser.

Even after issuing warning, the UK government does not find any security benefits in upgrading to a modern browser. The government is planning to beat attacks with anti- malware and firewalls.

After the Aurora attacks against 33 large companies along with Google, the French and German governments suggested the replacement of 12 year old browser to much advanced alternatives.

However, the UK government continued to remain cold to the application of IE6 on its networks and by the general public. Consequently, a petition asking for a similar response was launched by some of the concerned citizens.

The security experts gave reasons for the government decision to stick with IE6. They explained that the government thought that it would be expensive if they move to any new browser. Presently, the government has no plans to spend even if it is for the betterment of the country when the hackers start to take down whole of the government departments by using IE6 as an attack vector.

Graham Cluley, Senior Technology Consultant at Sophos, commented that doing absolutely nothing was unaccepted with respect to security and sending wrong message to businesses and consumers across the country, as reported by InformationWeek on August 2, 2010.

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» SPAMfighter News - 8/12/2010