We learned at least two things from the recent events:
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer, like other browsers on the market has security holes
  • People at Google use(d) Internet Explorer
The former isn't new, and while some politicans try to put an emphasis on it, I am sure that as long as all popular browsers have security holes, using another browser wouldn't prevent incidents like this.
The later is interesting. Why? If Google would only use IE to test how their new sites work with IE, the hackers would need to hack Google networks first before they can use the exploit in IE. So people at Google decided to use Internet Explorer to surf the web.
They prefered it over Google Chrome.
Makers of Google Chrome prefered IE over their own product.
Makers of Google Chrome prefered IE over their own product and trusted it so much that they haven't even tried to use secure settings.
You see my point?
But lets move to a bit more advanced topics.
First of all: Reports indicate that they haven't done much to prevent such attacks. If you only allow scripts / objects on trusted sites, risks of getting hacked is far less. If you run your browser as a separate user, and its read / write permissions are a bit limited, and the attacker would have a harder time to figure out where the downloaded files are in your system, the attackers would have a more difficult time.
You can put browser inside a VM, and have many other options to further secure your system.
They forgot tripwires, they haven't used any tools to analyze logs to detect potentially unauthorized access to sensitive areas. It is how their online tools protect your data and secrets.
When we speak about Android, Chrome OS, Google Docs, gmail etc. it is how YOUR data is secured. YOUR data, your secrets... and for some chinese users: How google protects your life.
Shouldn't our politicans warn us about the risks of using Google services (other than search)?