Microsoft shut down Internet Explorer, but its ghosts will remain with time

Even though the browser is inactive, it can continue to be a gateway for computer attacks, especially in institutions where updates are not as regular.

After years of uselessness and decline in recent months Internet Explorer finally came to an end, marking a turning point for Microsoft and one of its most famous products. Originally released in 1995, Internet Explorer has been preinstalled on Windows computers for nearly two decades and, like Windows XP, has become pillar – to the point that when it came time for users to upgrade and upgrade to newer browsers, they often didn’t.

Despite the end introduced by the North American giant last week pushed users beyond historical browsersecurity researchers warn that security vulnerabilities are far from gone, website notes Wired.

In the coming months, Microsoft will disable the IE app on Windows 10 devices, directing users to their browser. edge the next generation, first released in 2015. However, the Internet Explorer icon will remain on users’ computers, and Edge will now include a service called “modo IEto keep access to old websites created for Internet Explorer.

Seven years after Edge’s debut, analysis computer industry indicates that Internet Explorer, as outdated as it may seem to some, may still account for more than 5% of the total global browser market share, and in the United States of America this share may be closer to 2%.

For a product that has been on the market for as long as IE, backwards compatibility something hard to find. “We can’t forget that some parts of the Internet still depend on the specific behavior and characteristics of Internet Explorer,” he explained. Sean LinderseyHead of Microsoft Edge Enterprise.

On the other hand, the official added that real need restarting with Edge instead of reviving Internet Explorer. “The Internet has evolved, as have browsers. The incremental improvements to Internet Explorer have not been able to match the general improvements to the Internet as a whole, so We have begun again”.

Microsoft explained that it will continue to support the browser engine behind Internet Explorer, known as “MSHTML”, and is looking at versions of Windows that are still “used in critical environments.” But Maddy Stone, a researcher who is part of the Google Vulnerability Group, notes that hackers are still exploit vulnerabilities Internet Explorer in real attacks. “Internet Explorer remains a mature attack surface for initial penetration on Windows machines, even if the user does not use Internet Explorer as their Internet browser.”

In his review, Stone specifically noted that while the number of new Internet Explorer vulnerabilities has remained fairly constant, over the years, attackers have increasingly attacked the MSHTML browser engine with malicious files such as Office documents. This may mean that sterilizing the IE application won’t change immediately attack tendencies that are already in motion.

It goes without saying that for a browser considered dead, Explorer still takes many alive.