Mozilla Corp.

A powerful new type of Internet attack works like a telephone tap, except operates between computers and Web sites they trust.

Hackers at the Black Hat and DefCon security conferences have revealed a serious flaw in the way Web browsers weed out untrustworthy sites and block anybody from seeing them. If a criminal infiltrates a network, he can set up a secret eavesdropping post and capture credit card numbers, passwords and other sensitive data flowing between computers on that network and sites their browsers have deemed safe.

Microsoft Corp. said Thursday it will make a separate version of the Windows 7 computer operating software for Europe that does not include its Internet Explorer Web browser.

The move is aimed at trying to head off another antitrust scuffle with regulators there.

At the same time, Microsoft has left open the possibility that this measure will not satisfy the European Union, which said in January that the software maker's practice of selling Internet Explorer as a part of Windows violates its antitrust rules.