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URGENT: US Government tells computer users to disable Java


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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is advising people to temporarily disable the Java software on their computers to avoid potential hacking attacks.

The recommendation came in an advisory issued late Thursday, following up on concerns raised by computer security experts.

Experts believe hackers have found a flaw in Java's coding that creates an opening for criminal activity and other high-tech mischief.

Java is a widely used technical language that allows computer programmers to write a wide variety of Internet applications and other software programs that can run on just about any computer's operating system.

Oracle Corp. bought Java as part of a $7.3 billion acquisition of the software's creator, Sun Microsystems, in 2010.

Oracle, which is based in Redwood Shores, Calif., had no immediate comment late Friday.

The United States government has released a bulletin stating that users should disable Java on their computers, as recently the risk for potential hacks and security breaches using the software has increased drastically. Yet another Java exploit has been found in the most recent, fully patched version of the software, and according to Ars Technica this flaw is currently being exploited in the wild.

Even more concerning is how the exploit came to exist: last year Oracle released a patch to fix an earlier security issue, but the patch was incomplete and caused this current flaw to arise. The fact that Java is installed on more than a billion devices worldwide makes it a hot target for hackers, and with the recently discovered flaw the United States government has had to advise users to disable the software.

Oracle claims that a patch is in the works, but this could simply pave the way for more security issues. Java is well known for flaws among computer-savvy users, so as always we recommend not to install the software unless absolutely necessary.

Sources: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-government-tells-computer-users-010200788.html

http://www.neowin.net/news/disable-java-warns-us-government

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Nope, not uninstalling my java, either - got NoScript covering my back (with also additional protection at various levels.)

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