One of the biggest fallouts of the Google Hack has definitely been Microsoft’s reputation among its corporate and government customers. While many working in IT have not used or trusted IE for many years now, it has always been the default browser because it is included with Windows and all Microsofts products require it or will only work properly when using Internet Explorer.

However, the damage caused by the Google Hacks, which Microsoft has confirmed was done by exploiting a previously unknown vulnerability in Internet Explorer, will definitely change how a lot of businesses and governments treat Internet Explorer. Already German and French governments have issued public notices recommending that all citizens within their nations stop using Internet Explorer, install and use an alternative.

In Internet Explorer, there is a critical yet unknown vulnerability. The vulnerability allows attackers to inject malicious code via a specially crafted Web page into a Windows (Windows) computer to infiltrate and set up. The last week became known hacker attack on Google and other U.S. companies has probably exploited the vulnerability.

Affected are the versions 6, 7 to 8 Internet Explorer on Windows systems XP, Vista and Windows 7 Microsoft has released a security advisory in which it discusses ways of minimizing risk and is already working on a patch to close the security gap. The BSI expects that this vulnerability will be used in a short time for attacks on the Internet.

Critical vulnerability in Internet Explorer – Federal Office for Information Security (Translated using Google Translate)

The French release goes along much the same lines. IE has a big hole in it, theres no patch yet, use something else for a while.

This begs the question, if you don’t already will you be using something other than Internet Explorer? Google, Yahoo, Adobe, Northrope Gunman and Symantec are very large corporations that employ a lot of very smart people and have very diligent IT teams looking after their computers. Yet this hole in Internet Explorer allowed their networks to be compromised. If Symantec, the maker of one of the most widely used antivirus and internet security products available to the average consumer, can be vulnerable to this, its very significant.

So will you take the advise of both the German and French governments and switch?