Microsoft rushes out critical IE patch

Microsoft will release a patch tomorrow to fix a vulnerability in Internet Explorer that was apparently exploited by cyber criminals to hack into Google's Chinese office.

The software giant advised customers that update MS10-002 should be available from about 5am AEDT on Friday.

"[The patch] addresses the vulnerability related to recent attacks against Google and small subset of corporations, as well as several other vulnerabilities. Once applied, customers are protected against the known attacks that have been widely publicised," the company said in a statement.

Microsoft has been under pressure to fix the well publicised problem, which has caused many companies and governments to consider ditching Internet Explorer for an alternative browser such as Firefox or Google's Chrome.

Redmond warned customers to stick with IE because switching to another browser will create a 'false sense of security'.

"It is important to note that all software has vulnerabilities and switching browsers in an attempt to protect against this one, highly publicised, but currently limited attack can inadvertently create some false sense of security.  

"Microsoft is only seeing a very limited number of targeted attacks against a small subset of corporations and the attacks that we have seen to date are only effective against Internet Explorer 6. We are not seeing any widespread attacks and thus far we are not seeing attacks focused on consumers," the statement concluded.