Internet security experts have discovered a security hole in the Java software, indicating that millions of PCs around the world are vulnerable to data theft.
An operational arm of US Department of Homeland Security, US-CERT (United States- Computer Emergency Readiness Team) claimed that Java 7 Update 10 and earlier versions contain an unspecified vulnerability that can allow a remote, unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code on a vulnerable system.
The security agency further said that the vulnerability is being attacked in the wild and is incorporated into exploit kits. The exploit code for this vulnerability is also publicly available.
Jaime Blasco, Head of labs at security tools firm AlienVault said, "The hacker can virtually own your computer if you visit a malicious link thanks to this new vulnerability. At the moment, there is no patch for this vulnerability, so the only way to protect yourself is by disabling Java." reported The Register.
Internet security experts around the world have opined that the platform independent Java software, which can be installed on PCs with Windows, Mac OS X and Linux OS, makes millions of computers around the world vulnerable to attacks from hackers.
Hackers equipped with modern exploit kits can easily convince an unsuspecting user to visit a specially crafted HTML document. A remote attacker can then execute an arbitrary code on a vulnerable system.
Java Software makers Oracle Corporation is still studying the situation and it is yet to respond to the flaw found in the software.
Since the solution is yet to be found by internet security experts, PC users are advised to un-install Java software in their systems until a fix is rolled out.
