A recently discovered vulnerability in Microsoft‘s Internet Explorer web browser allows hackers to track the movements of your mouse, with some companies allegedly using it to monitor advertisement views.
Microsoft says it is investigating reports of this mouse-tracking flaw.
UK-based advertising analytics company, Spider.io, has reported that some unnamed companies are inappropriately using this flaw, as it allows them to track whether advertisements, sometimes buried far down Web pages, are actually viewed by users.
The global software giant has confirmed that every version of Internet Explorer, version 6 dating back to 2001 up to and including version 10, which was released earlier this year, is vulnerable. Vulnerabilities already affected all versions prior to the tenth.
For the vulnerability to work, a hacker buys ad space on a website and waits until a user visits. For as long as the user keeps the tab open, the hacker has continuous access to user’s mouse movements.
Microsoft are faced with yet another potential threat from hackers as it was revealed this weekend that there is a high-risk vulnerability in Outlook and Hotmail that apparently allows a malicious attacker to hijack user accounts.
This vulnerability works by allowing the attacker to import and export cookies from a user’s system to that of the attacker, allowing the attacker to log-in to the user’s account even if the user had logged out.
Microsoft have yet to release solutions or patches to either flaws and HumanIPO will update the story as it develops.
