Fergie's Tech Blog

Clipboard Data Theft Optional In IE 7

Brian Krebs writes on Security Fix:

A little known secret about Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser is the long-standing feature that lets Web sites silently read data stored in the Windows "clipboard" -- the storage space that serves as a semi-temporary repository for any text the user has recently cut-and-pasted or copied in virtually any Windows program.

Apparently, Microsoft has finally changed that feature with IE 7. The newest version of the browser throws up a prompt asking users whether they really want to share the contents of their clipboard (should they stumble upon a site that tries to filch it).

It's probably worth mentioning that alternative Web browsers such as Firefox and Opera do not allow Windows clipboard data-stealing.

posted by Fergie @ 12/21/2006 03:50:00 PM