Hacker Selling Explorer Flaw

The Russian hacker known as "Bit" had something valuable to sell. He had spotted a defect in Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT ) Internet Explorer Web browser that makes it vulnerable to attack -- and figured out how to exploit it. In an underground chat room frequented by virus writers, Bit made his pitch. "I'm selling a zero-day exploit for Internet Explorer," read the ad posted at http://forum.web-hack.ru on July 16. The price? $300.