Not many people use Internet Explorer today because many people have switched to Chrome and Firefox. But here is another reason not to use Internet Explorer! I read this article recently where Homeland Security is recommending that everyone use a different browser than Internet Explorer. Apparently version 6-11 of Internet Explorer has a security bug, where hackers can gain access to your computer and your information if you click on a bad link. Microsoft was alerted about the bug but they have not found a solution the flaw. So everyone do not use Internet Explorer!
Hackers are everywhere and using Chrome or Firefox does not prevent hackers from hacking your computer but the bug is so serious that Homeland Security is advising that we use another browser. We are always on the internet and we have a lot of personal information saved on the browsers. And if not the bug can also gain access of your hard drive so protect yourselves from the hackers as much as possible and switch to a different browser if you have not already.
This made me think about how much we rely on the internet. It saves our passwords, usernames, credit card information, home address and much more. We put so much information on the internet but we sometimes forget to protect ourselves. We mindlessly put information on the internet for convenience or to use social tools but we do not think of what would happen if someone gains access to this information. A lot of people have their Facebook or Dropbox linked to their computer, tablet and smartphone. This is why losing one of these items are so important to us because our information is on it. But with this bug you don’t need to lose your phone or computer, they can just access it from one bad click. Protect yourself from getting information stolen from you!
I’m guilty of relying on our web browsers to remember some of my important information such as passwords for certain sites. My main web browser has always been Google Chrome at home, but at school since we only have Internet Explorer and Firefox to choose from I normally opt for IE. I never really thought that anything like this would happen with the whole security breech that Homeland security would be advising us to use different web browsers. I guess we can consider this a negative outcome of how much our generation and society in general now a days rely on social media sites. And the amount of trust we put into them with information and access that we really should re think such as Dropbox as you mentioned. I know that a lot of people use Dropbox which syncs with our computers and hand held devices. Maybe it’s time for everyone to really rethink how much access we want all these applications to have.
I find it very interested that Internet Explorer is one of the most untrustworthy browsers. Especially because internet explorer is generally the browser that is already pre downloaded on our factory made computers. I personally stopped using Internet Explorer years ago because every computer I had this browser on, ended up getting a virus.
The fact that we literally put our lives out there on the internet is quite frightening. We use it to connect with other people, to get information, etc. It just makes our lives so much easier. As you have mentioned about Facebook, DropBox, and other sites that we store our information in, I think that we just have to be more aware of what we put out there and trust. We cannot not live without the internet, so being careful and using protected browsers are key.
I do not understand why all the Baruch computers still have Internet Explorer on their desktop. Wouldn’t hackers be able to access the systems if someone were to use it? I haven’t used that browser in years since I use Google Chrome. If I think about it all my information is saved on that browser on my computer and a lot of sites I use I have them stay signed it because I could access it right away without having to sign in with a password. I think I should clear everything now and change my passwords to protect my information since my personal information and privacy is important to me. While I’m at it I should delete Internet Explorer off my desktop since its the simplest way to protect your computer and I don’t even use it anyways.