There appears to be a serious bug in AOL’s instant messaging program (AIM). It concerns how AIM interacts with Internet Explorer to display html messages. A hacker could seize control of your computer through this flaw, or send you to a malicious web site.
AOL learned of this problem in early September. The Oct. 3 patch, or 6.5 update, was supposed to fix it.
However, some researchers say the underlying problem has not been fixed at all, and the instant messaging client is still vulnerable to this problem. No comment yet from AOL.
Microsoft and Yahoo have also experienced similar problems with their IM programs in recent months. This, say the researchers, is partly due to all the new features that are added to these applications. New features also add new vulnerabilities and new methods of attack.
Keep your IM programs up to date by checking regularly for updates. If you use AIM, you may want to minimize your use of this program until we get more news about this problem.
If you wish to continue to use AIM, try using it with Firefox instead of Internet Explorer. Get Firefox free here: http://en.www.mozilla.com/en/
Syd Tash is a noted computer security consultant and author of How to Protect Your Computer Online. He has been keeping Internet surfers safe and secure since the last century. Find out how he does it; protect your own computer with five layers of protection right here: => http://mypcsecuritysite.com/
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October 17, 2007 at 2:57 pm
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