New Flaw Shows Up in Browser

Another security flaw has turned up in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser that, as with one found earlier in the week, could enable a Web site operator to wreak havoc in someone else’s computer.

With this latest defect, an operator double clicking on icons to run programs as in normal Windows operations would be able to run programs secretly on another computer, send electronic mail under someone else’s name, severely damage software stored on a hard drive or even wipe out everything on it.

“It could be the hard drive of any computer out there on the Internet,” said David Ross, a University of Maryland student who reported the latest defect.

The bug, identified in Internet Explorer 3.0, has the potential to do the most damage to users running Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 1 or 2 who are not protected by so-called firewalls, or computer security barriers.

Microsoft company is working to fix the problem.