South Korea Seems To Wrest IE And ActiveX

By a legal obligation from the end of the last century, most South Koreans still use Internet Explorer, but the country seems slowly to Microsoft's browser and ActiveX technology to emerge. This week launched the Korea Trade Network (KTN), part of the Korea International Trade Organization, new authentication services in addition to IE also work in other browsers.

The KTN late announcement specifically that the new services are free and ActiveX standard Microsoft Edge, Chrome and Firefox work. ActiveX is an extension dating from 1996 model, making it possible to add extensions to Internet Explorer.Decided because of all kinds of stability and security vulnerabilities in Microsoft ActiveX Edge no longer support.

In South Korea ActiveX still plays an important role. To encourage online shopping and Internet banking and fears about insecurity to take away the Internet, the South Korean government developed its own system to authenticate the identity of online buyers. To order online buyers had their name and Social Security number to apply for a digital certificate from the government. This certificate could show people as a kind of identity card to the retailer. The whole process was designed so that it occupied just a few clicks.

The technology for these online identity was based on Microsoft's ActiveX technology, which works only in Internet Explorer. When the system was introduced in 1999, the South Korean government stated that it was mandatory for online purchases above 210 euros. For smaller purchases by South Korean retailers, however, applies a similar certification system developed by webshops and credit card companies. However, the law does not apply to foreign retailers.

Many South Koreans also use IE. In recent years, received the browser, as ActiveX, having to make many security problems. Nevertheless, the browser according to StatCounter in South Korea still has a market share of 67.8%. The announcement of the KTN is also noteworthy. In August it was announced that the Korean financial authorities want the authentication certificates within two to three years phasing.

Emergency Patches Firefox Remedy Pwn2Own Leak

Mozilla has released in a short time two emergency patches for Firefox that fix critical vulnerabilities that an attacker in the worst case, the computer could take over completely. It involves two vulnerabilities that were demonstrated during the Pwn2Own contest in Vancouver.

During the event, researchers can win cash prizes by showing vulnerabilities in popular browsers and browser plug-ins. In Firefox three vulnerabilities were demonstrated, where it earned two responsible investigators $ 45,000 together. A day after the demonstration had already updated to Mozilla Firefox 36.0.3 done that fixed the first two leaks. A few hours later by Firefox 36.0.4 for the third vulnerability.

Updating to Firefox 36.0.4 possible via the automatic update feature of the browser or Mozilla.org . Besides Firefox succeeded researchers during the event also to Internet Explorer 11 , Safari and Google Chrome hack. In IE11 most vulnerabilities were discovered, namely four. On the same day as Mozilla also came with a Google update for Chrome, but the description is not mentioned in it or this version vulnerabilities have been patched.