School's out to shun IE

Abstract

Officials in the Information Technology Services department at Pennsylvania State University have sent a notice to students suggesting that they switch to a browser other than Internet Explorer (IE) to increase the security of their computers. Recent reports in the media about IE vulnerabilities, as well as warnings from the Computer Emergency and Response Team at Carnegie Mellon University, prompted Penn State's recommendation that students look at browsers including Firefox, Safari, and Opera. A spokesperson for the university said, "We're not telling people to wipe off IE, because you need IE to do operating-system updates." As part of a two-month campaign to increase computer security across campus, however, the university is urging students to examine other browsers and to consider the benefits they might provide for increased protection from malicious code. Also included in the security campaign are reminders for students to install firewalls and antivirus software, to keep those applications updated, and to install operating-system updates regularly.