Microsoft has issued a "critical" warning over a newly-discovered flaw in Windows that makes around 900 million people worldwide vulnerable to malicious attacks.
In a security advisory, the company showed how the flaw could affect every user of the Internet Explorer and could be used by hackers to steal private information or hijack computers.
Microsoft has issued a software patch to defend against attacks. The company has urged all Windows users to download the fix while the company develops a permanent fix.
The company admitted that users could easily be fooled into downloading malicious files by even clicking on a link.
Microsoft representative Angela Gunn said, "When the user clicked that link, the malicious script would run on the user’s computer for the rest of the current Internet Explorer session."
She added once the computer had been hijacked, hackers could use it to steal personal data or send users to fake websites.
Other web browsers such as Firefox and Google Chrome are unaffected. Unlike Internet Explorer, they do not support MHTML files, where the glitch reportedly lies.
