Microsoft rushes with patch for bug, after ending support for Microsoft XP

Software giant Microsoft, which pulled the plug last month on support for Windows XP, more recently provided an emergency update to fix a critical bug in its Internet Explorer browser.

The company rushed to fix the bug in the operating system over the weekend, after cyber security firm FireEye issued a warning over a sophisticated group of hackers exploiting the bug to launch attacks in a campaign dubbed ''Operation Clandestine Fox.''

The high-profile threat came as the first of its kind after Microsoft stopped providing support to its 13-year-old XP operating software on 8 April.

The company on Wednesday initially said it would not provide the remedy to Windows XP users, having stopped supporting the product.

However, yesterday, as Microsoft started releasing the fix for the bug through its automated Windows Update system, a company spokeswoman said XP customers would also be provided with the remedy.

''We decided to fix it, fix it fast, and fix it for all our customers,'' spokeswoman Adrienne Hall said on Microsoft's official blog.

However, she said the vulnerability had been exploited in few attacks, but Microsoft proceeded to patch in XP ''based on the proximity'' to its recent end of support.

''There have been a very small number of attacks based on this particular vulnerability and concerns were, frankly, overblown,'' she said in the blog.

The bug would allow hackers to install malware on one's computer without permission, and allow hackers to steal user's personal data, track online behaviour, or gain control of the computer, CNET reported.

Though security patches are issued by the company every second Tuesday of the month, due to the severity of the threat, the patch was released last Thursday, the report added.

According to Microsoft's security group's Dustin Childs, Microsoft had released the patch for Windows XP users but the OS was no longer supported by Microsoft.