Google has quickly patched a vulnerability in its Desktop Search tool after reports emerged that hackers were exploiting it to attack systems via a security flaw in Internet Explorer.
Last week, Matan Gillon, an independent security researcher from Israel, discovered a link between the security flaw in Internet Explorer and Google Desktop Search. This dangerous connection allowed hackers to use Desktop Search to infiltrate and steal information from Windows systems.
According to Gillon’s report, there is a flaw in how Internet Explorer handles CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), a method widely used for creating fonts and formatting for web pages across the Internet.
Gillon created a webpage that ran on the Internet Explorer browser of a Windows computer with Google Desktop Search installed, and as a result, he was able to search for the computer’s password.
Gillon believes that the aforementioned vulnerability in Internet Explorer could enable hackers to steal personal information from victims’ computers, which could then be used to conduct online transactions in the victims’ names.
