Real Java (browser) problem - take action now!

[smonday]

From Barry:

The is a real and important security issue (akin to a virus). The actual risk at the moment is pretty small but it is expected to grow quickly. I advise you to take action to address this immediately! I will reply to this thread with my researched advised actions.

Thanks goto Stella Monday for bringing this to my/our attention! I must caution you, however, that most virus/security alerts that you receive via email are hoaxes or otherwise not a significant threat. It is for this reason that I discourage posting threats on WaccoBB. If you see a threat posted in mainstream media please send it to me privately and I'll validate it. This one, however, is real!

Here's Stella's announcement from earlier today, but again see my subsequent post for more information and recommended actions - Barry

Security researchers have discovered a serious exploit in browser java plug ins.
This vulnerabily in oracles java plug can be easily attacked and you are advised to disable the Java plug in or your computer could be seriously compromised.
This in only used for your web browser and few websites use java.
This is well researched and NOT a hoax. See this link or google it to find many more stories.

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/0...block_exploit/

[Barry]

This is a real security issue on the internet now and I recommend you take action immediately!

There's some background on the issue here, here and here.

Windows users:

First, I suggest you dump Internet Explorer and switch to either Firefox or Chrome for a number of reasons besidse not being produced by Microsoft. You'll have the option of importing your bookmarks from Internet Explorer.

Even inf you don't use Internet Explorer, you should update your java plugin by going here. This is a patch that was issued just a short while ago (today). The earlier recommendation, to disable the java plugin, is very difficult in Internet Explorer, another reason to dump it.

I ran the update on a Windows machine here and it took several minutes, but it is easy enough. There is installation help here.

Mac users
The simple answer is that you should update too, by going here. You may not have Java installed and thus not need to update, but chances are you do. Here's how you check:

How do I know if I have Java installed on my Mac?

Mac OS X 10.6 and below: Apple's Java comes pre-installed with your Mac OS.
Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) and above: Java is not pre-installed with Mac OS X versions 10.7 and above. To get the latest Java 7 from Oracle, you will need Mac OS X 10.7.3 and above.
If you have Java 7, you will see a Java icon under System Preferences.
Java versions 6 and below are listed in the Java Preferences.app located in the Applications > Utilities folder on your Mac.

Here's a quick demo of doing the update on a Mac:



Bottom line, do the easy update as described above and have no worries!

Barry