Microsoft’s browser, Internet Explorer, has long been lambasted and criticized for providing inadequate security. However, the company seems adamant on providing better security features in IE 11. To that end, Microsoft recently paid $28,000 to six researchers who were able to find key bugs in IE 11.
We recently reported how on Sept 17, a critical security vulnerability was discovered in nearly all versions of Internet Explorer. Although the company did push out an update to patch the loophole, the fact that it existed casts a negative light on Microsoft.
The company is now trying to improve the reputation of the Internet Explorer platform. Back in June, Microsoft announced a bounty-hunt program, offering cash prizes to such hackers and researchers who could find security vulnerabilities in IE 11.
The payment margins were fairly good, with Microsoft offering as much as $11,000 for a critical exploit. Now, it has transpired that as part of the bounty program, Microsoft has handed out cash prizes to the tune of $28,000 to six security researchers.
In all, these researchers were able to identify 15 vulnerabilities while testing out the preview version of IE 11. It is good to note that rather than taking its usual casual approach towards browser security, Microsoft is expending a lot of efforts and resources in trying to ensure that IE 11 ships with fool-proof security.
The company is expected to release the browser together with Windows 8.1 on October 18. We expect the company to make changes to the browser’s outlook too.
Courtesy: CNET
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Since Microsoft shoved ie10 onto my win 7/64 it has not worked. I had a page from Hotmail I pnned to the start bar that does work fortunately. So, I have been able to get email. I uninstalled and rolled back to ie9 until this last shove of ie10. Really irritating.