The German government is warning citizens against using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, because of a security hole in the browser which is currently being exploited by hackers.

The security flaw, which affects Windows XP, Vista and 7, was made known to the public over the weekend. When IE users on these operating systems click a malicious web link, they can open their computers to hackers.

The flaw has affected hundreds of millions of IE users around the world and has yet to be fixed.
“A fast spreading of the code has to be feared,” said the German government in a statement. Microsoft, for its part, offered a toolkit Monday night intended to serve as a stopgap measure until a complete patch is made available.