Top 5 Optimizers technical rumors

Google is going to stop supporting IE 6, since vulnarabilities in this version of the popular web browser caused recent attacks on a lot of companies including Google. The security hole in IE allowed the hacker to install a trojan program on the users computer after visiting certain websites. Previously German anf French government have already called for IE 6 usage ban, and even though Microsoft has reacted to this problem and the security patch has been released three weeks earlier then planned, it didn’t stop Google and now the Google Docs and Google Sites will not work under Internet Explorer 6.

The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team advised mall hte RealPlayer users to apply the new security update for this popular media-playing software. This update has been issued last weak and covers Windows, Mac and Linux versions of the product. Even though CERT considers this patch to be important, RealNetworks stated that there has been no issues or any security porblems with the previous version as the result of the now-remedied vulnerabilities.

Microsoft has recommended all users who have not yet upgraded to IE 8 from IE 6 version to do so now, since the main reason behind the recent attacks on a number of well-known companies was greatly because of IE 6 security hole. IE 8 users have not encountered any problems during this period, may be because IE 8 has some of the security options turned on by default. For Windows XP users it is also recommended to upgrade to SP3 to further enhance security.

Microsoft said it is working around the clock to patch an Internet Explorer 6 software hole through which China-based cyber spies attacked Google and other firms. Microsoft is testing a security fix and will make it available as soon as it is ready instead of following its protocol of releasing security updates the second Tuesday of each month. Revealing the attacks on January 12, Google said they originated from China and targeted the email accounts of Chinese human rights activists around the world but did not explicitly accuse the Chinese government of responsibility.

After Microsoft has agreed that the recent attacks  on Google were partly because of the Internet Explorer security breach, German Federal Office for Information Security called to find an alternative browser to replace the world’s most common one. The Microsoft represantative in Germany questions this judgement, saying that attacks on Google were made by very dedicated people with certain purpose, and therefore do not concern the majority of users.

Microsoft is not going to follow Google’s lead in pulling out of China. “We’ve been quite clear that we’re going to operate in China,” Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in an interview on CNBC. However, his hopes for China to produce growing revenue for the company seem to hinge on a thorny issue: a reduction of piracy and intellectual-property theft. His reference to the problem of IP theft points to bigger challenges Microsoft could face if it decided to leave China. Microsoft has been battling software piracy there for years, and pulling out of the country could amount to it giving up the battle and allowing piracy of its products to flourish unchecked. The issue of censorship or human rights has not been raised in this interview, in contradiction with Google, who considers them as central issues to its new approach to the country.

Microsoft asked for rehearing in the Word case that requires the software giant to pay US$290 million in damages and prevents it from selling the current version of Word starting this Monday. All the previous attempts to make any changes to this case led to nothing. We remind you that this is regarding the fact that patented code has been used in previous versions of Microsoft Word allowing users to create custom XML documents, which originally belonged to i4i. It is unlikely that the court will decide in Micrisift’s favor, so the software giant stated that it is ready to sell Microsoft Word with the feature under question removed from the functionality.

U.S. authorities linked a well-known group involved with malicious software, hacking, child pornography and spam known as Russian Business Network gang to the theft of an estimated tens of millions of dollars from Citibank which occurred mid-year. It was not known whether the money had been recovered and a Citibank representative said the company had not had any system breach or losses, according to the report. The report left unclear who the money was stolen from but said a program called Black Energy, designed by a Russian hacker, was one tool used in the attack. The attackers also targeted a U.S. government agency and one other unnamed entity, the report said, adding that it was unknown if the attackers accessed Citibank systems directly or through other parties.

A dangerous vulnerability in Internet Explorer became known to publicity before a fix was available, raising the probability of zero-days attacks. The new bug involves the way IE handles Cascading Style Sheets objects(CSS is currently the most popular web-design technique), and could allow an attacker to execute any type of code on a targeted Windows XP, Vista, Server 2003, or Server 2008 computer. Internet Explorer 8 was not affected by this bug, and currently you can аix the vulnerability with a patch.

A small Missouri design company that includes a word “Bing” in its name filed the case to the St. Louis circuit court this week, accusing Microsoft for branding its search engine with the same word, alleging trademark infringement and unfair competition. The design company, which offers computer-related illustrations and other services, has used the name Bing since 2000, and is now seeking damages including corrective advertising paid for by Microsoft to eliminate confusion between the brands. However Microsoft denies possible relation with the trademark: “We believe this suit to be without merit and we do not believe there is any confusion in the marketplace with regard to the complainant’s offerings and Microsoft’s Bing product,” the spokesman said.