Firefox Spyware infects IE?

[Nomad559]

Firefox Spyware infects IE?

-Snip-

What if there was an infection out there that could bypass Firefox and still get its grubby little paws on IE, and from there, the heart of your OS? What if that same infection could get past not only FF, but a whole raft of other (supposedly more secure) browsers too?

But how could this happen?

The answer is, some sneaky coding is being used to get around your browser of choice. Upon visiting the target website, nothing happens. Nothing that is, unless you have Sun Java Runtime Environment installed on the host machine. And seeing how everyone is being urged to turn away from Microsoft's Java in favour of Sun's version, this could spell problems for browsers currently lording it over IE.

So how is this happening? The developers of this install are using the Java Runtime Environment, the initial installer taking the form of a Java applet rather than an Active X component inherent to IE alone. In this way, if the browser being used can recognise and install the applet, then it doesn't seem to matter what browser you're using, or (more worryingly) how tight your IE security is.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/11/alternative_slimeware

[ET Awful]

1. Of course, the settings in Firefox allow you to turn off Java

applets as well.

[mourningdove92]

3. How do you do that? I use Mozilla but IE is still on my computer.

[ET Awful]

5. Go to Tools, Options, Web Features

and uncheck enable Java and Java Script

[asthmaticeog]

2. If you just delete IE, it can't get infected.

Oh, you bought that OS where it's integrated and you can't get rid of it? Awwwww, too bad.

[Renew Deal]

4. This just proves that Firefox is no safer than IE.

If you spend the time exploiting Firefox, you will.