On April 26, 2014, Microsoft made an announcement of a high-risk vulnerability in Internet Explorer versions 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11. This security hole could allow someone to take complete control of your computer and possibly install malware, collect your personal data, or create new accounts with administrative rights to your computer. The vulnerability consisted to two different areas: Microsoft Internet Explorer and Adobe Flash player. For more information on this vulnerability, refer to Microsoft.
On May 1, 2014, Microsoft made available a software update to all impacted versions of Internet Explorer which must be installed to ensure this specific risk is mitigated. Additionally, Adobe and Microsoft have a separate patch to download and patch your system.
What should you do?
Our technology team recommends that you stop using Internet Explorer to browse the Internet until Microsoft updates have been installed on your computer. A good alternative to Internet Explorer include Google Chrome.
Based on the seriousness of this vulnerability, Microsoft has included updates for Windows XP as well as their newer operating system versions. Normally Windows XP has been dropped from support. If you are running Windows XP, you should strongly consider upgrading as Microsoft has dropped support of this operating system. If you have not run Windows update, it is strongly recommended you do so to remediate this vulnerability within your system.
Additionally, you should re-mediate the Adobe vulnerability. To check the version of Adobe Flash Player running on your computer, click on this Adobe site link. If the version of Adobe Flash Player is less than the version in the table displayed on the Adobe page (e.g., for Windows, 13.0.0.206), then you must download and install the current version of Flash Player from this Adobe download page.