Computer giant Microsoft has issued a global warning to users of the Internet Explorer web browser announcing the software could leave your machine open to malicious attacks.

Microsoft has announced that a recently discovered loophole in the web browser, reported to affect all 900 million IE users around the world, has been given a “critical” warning to alert users to potential hack attacks that could see users lose private information or have their computers hijacked.

The system vulnerability which is actually inside the Windows operating systems but appears only when carrying out certain tasks in Internet Explorer is said by the software manufacturers to make users vulnerable to the downloading of malicious files by simply clicking open a web link.

"When the user clicked that link, the malicious script would run on the user's computer for the rest of the current Internet Explorer session," announced Angela Gunn, a representative for Microsoft. She added: "Such a script might collect user information, e.g e-mail, spoof content displayed in the browser or otherwise interfere with the user's experience."

Unable to remotely remove the bug from its software Microsoft has declared that it has already issued a temporary patch that will fix the issue whilst it works on a more permanent solution. All Internet Explorer users are being urged to download the patch at the earliest convenience.

Fed up the recent spate of IE security issues? Which competitive browser takes your fancy now? Let us know via the T3 Twitter and Facebook feeds.

Via: BBC