The Security Mentor

There's been a(nother) string of scary vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer, the browser program with the blue E, These security flaws made it possible for bad guys to set up web sites that would take over your computer if you just visited them (with Internet Explorer).

The security products industry warned of widespread mayhem. So did people like me who weren't trying to sell products. And yet computer users escaped obvious catastrophe.

Via Rootsecure, Infoworld columnist Roger Grimes (I respect him) suggests that Microsoft's investigative and legal efforts prevented a wide outbreak. Microsoft set up a team to search for those booby-trapped web sites and to pressure ISPs to shut them down. Not really Microsoft's job, but in their interests.

My pessimistic side suggests that since today's computer criminals are after money and not notoriety, we may have had a catastrophe that hasn't hit the headlines because it's quietly stealing credit card numbers. My cynical side wonders if so many home computers are infected already that nobody noticed a few million more.