Attack on IE via Google Desktop Search

An Israeli security expert, Matan Gillon, has discovered a method of stealing information using Google Desktop Search through an unpatched security flaw in Internet Explorer.

This security error lies in the way Internet Explorer manages CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). CSS is a way of arranging overlapping web pages when opening many web pages in the browser.

Matan Gillon said that this security vulnerability of Internet Explorer allows an attacker to steal the user's personal information as well as to inject malicious code into the system. What is special here is that the Google Desktop tool, which is inherently friendly with Internet Explorer, has become a tool that can exploit this security bug.

For "skillful" hackers, it is only necessary to have a preliminary access to Windows computers that have Google Desktop installed so that they can retrieve a significant number of passwords from the victim's computer. In addition, this security error also allows hackers to trick users into sneaking into malicious websites to hijack the system.

Microsoft is currently actively investigating this bizarre combination and also acknowledges that this security bug has affected quite a number of separate websites, especially those that require users to enter a username and password. Microsoft has not yet confirmed that this security error could be exploited to launch malicious code on the system, but some experts have confirmed that this is possible.

Sonya Boralv, a Google spokeswoman, said that Google is also actively investigating this issue.

Security expert Tom Ferris commented that the security flaw is similar to some other security flaws in Internet Explorer but Gillon is adept at finding out how to use Google Desktop to steal files. material.

Gillon said that this security error does not exist in browsers like Firefox and Opera. Gillon recommends that users switch to using a different browser or turn off the JavaScript feature in Internet Explorer, and can fix the above security error.