iOS reaches 1.7% share of the web, Windows 7 hits 20%

Both iOS and Windows 7 were the winners for share of the web, Net Applications found in its December wrap-up. Thanks mostly to an equal mix of the iPad and iPhone, Apple's mobile platform reached 1.69 percent in December, up a relative 24.3 percent from a month earlier. Android's growth rate was faster, at about 29 percent, but its total 0.4 percent share widened the relative lead in web use.

Microsoft simultaneously reached a symbolic milestone on the desktop as just over a fifth, or 20.87 percent, of all web usage. However, most of the gain came almost exclusively at the expense of other versions of Windows, as Microsoft's overall Windows share was down to its lowest point ever, at a still high 90.29 percent. iOS was the only overall plaform to see a major gain in December, as the Mac, Linux and Java were near-flat.

Researchers didn't give a full explanation for the uptick, but gift giving during the holiday likely led to a large number of iPads and possibly iPhones going live after Christmas. Windows computers may also have been gifts in the period and helped people replace older systems using Windows XP.

In desktop web browsers, Internet Explorer kept on its years-long slide and reached a new low of 57.08 percent where Firefox, Chrome and Safari all made gains. Google's browser was the fastest mover and hit 9.98 percent, but Safari moved up briskly to 5.89 percent while Firefox bounced back slightly to 22.81 percent.

Microsoft’s Head of Internet Explorer on Privacy & Losing to Firefox

Microsoft’s Dean Hachamovitch, the corporate vice president of Internet Explorer (Internet Explorer), discussed IE9, the browser market, privacy and more at the AllThingsD event at CES today.

Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal led off with the plummeting market share of Internet Explorer, specifically concerning reports that Firefox (Firefox) has overtaken IE in Europe. Hachamovitch sidestepped the issue by saying that Mirosoft is actually trying to drop the market share of IE6, IE7 and IE8 because it wants people to switch to a more dynamic web with IE9.

The majority of the discussion focused on user privacy, though. It was clear that Hachamovitch wanted to focus on the issue; he wore a shirt with the word “private” emblazoned on the front combined with the IE logo.

The first part of the conversation focused on tracking. Hachamovitch made sure to differentiate between two types of tracking: “expected tracking” and “creepy-stalking tracking.” Some tracking is good, he said, citing Pandora (Pandora) as an example. By tracking what songs you listen to, it can create recommendations and customized playlists, one of the big selling points of the streaming radio service. Microsoft wants to have that type of tracking while giving users the option to opt out of certain types of tracking.

Mossberg and Hachamovitch then dived into the ways Microsoft intends to protect user privacy in IE9. One of those features is a button users can click on almost any webpage that will block tracking and cookies from that website. In addition, companies and users can create do-not-track lists.

“We think it’s important to have people exercise judgement in making those lists,” Hachamovitch said. In addition to the feature, called Tracking Protection, Microsoft is organizing a roundtable of industry leaders with the University of California, Berkeley, to talk about web and browser privacy.

No browser can fully protect from one type of tracking, though: Flash cookies. The only way to stop Flash cookies is to turn off Flash for that specific website, an “extreme move” that many users won’t be willing to do in order to stop tracking.

French Government calls on internet users to abandon Internet Explorer

* France, Germany dump Internet Explorer
* Australians 'should upgrade or switch'
* Microsoft says hackers only hit IE6
* Google attack an "inside job"

AUSTRALIANS have been advised against using Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) because of a security threat.

Local web users have been advised to install security patches or switch browsers, while two countries - France and Germany - have now issued warnings against all versions of Microsoft's browser.

Germany warned users Friday after a malicious code - implicated in recent attacks on Google - was published online, and now Certa, a French Government agency that oversees cyber threats, has warned against using all recent versions of the web browser.

While the Google attacks were designed to exploit Internet Explorer 6, Microsoft has released a security advisory for Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 8.

Microsoft said it has only seen a "very limited number of targeted attacks against a small subset of corporations".

"The attacks that we have seen to date are only effective against Internet Explorer 6."

"We are not seeing any widespread attacks and thus far we are not seeing attacks focused on consumers."

The company recommended users upgrade to Internet Explorer 8 - which is technically still vulnerable - and anyone using older versions of Windows XP to upgrade to Service Pack 3.

It is still working on a permanent solution.

Australian alerts

An alert from the Australian Government website staysmartonline.gov.au suggests users try Microsoft's temporary fixes or consider an alternate browser.

But Paul Ducklin, Asia Pacific head of technology at Sophos, says "all browsers have vulnerabilities".

"Even though it's true that IE is exploited more than any other browser, you don't achieve security simply by switching."

"That's security through obscurity, which is merely false security."

"Good security means defence in depth, and in a well-defended network a single unpatched vulnerability in your browser shouldn't really be enough for the bad guys to get in."

Dr Mark Gregory, internet security expert at RMIT University, says any panic rush to another browser would not help protect users.

"Microsoft Internet Explorer is no worse than any other browser, they all have the same inherent flaws in them so a mass panic rush wouldn't do anything other than giving the hackers a new target," he said.

"Microsoft products are no more susceptible to hacking than other products, but because they are the largest they are often the target."

George Kurtz, worldwide chief technology officer of security firm McAfee, said on his blog last week that the Google attack was a fresh threat.

"All I can say is wow. The world has changed," Mr Kurtz said.

"Everyone’s threat model now needs to be adapted to the new reality of these advanced persistent threats."

"In addition to worrying about Eastern European cybercriminals trying to siphon off credit card databases, you have to focus on protecting all of your core intellectual property, private nonfinancial customer information and anything else of intangible value."

What can you do?

- Download an alternate browser: Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, or Google Chrome are the main alternatives.

- Upgrade from IE6: Internet Explorer 8 is technically still vulnerable, but Microsoft has not advised of any exploits in the wild.

- Upgrade your browser's security: Tips from US security agency CERT.

- Follow Government advice: Online alerts from Stay Smart Online.