The government has ruled out scrapping the use of Internet Explorer 6 on department computers, saying it will persevere with the bullet-riddled browser despite its high-profile vulnerabilities.

Responding to an online petition with more than 6,000 signatures urging government departments to upgrade away from IE6, the government said such a move would be "a very large operation" potentially at "significant potential cost to the taxpayer".

"It is therefore more cost-effective in many cases to continue to use IE6 and rely on other measures, such as firewalls and malware-scanning software, to further protect public sector internet users," reads the statement.

So, when I heard about this decision happening, the first thing I thought was "We're Screwed". Seriously, IE6 is without a shadow of a doubt the most unsecure web browser ever. Sure it may end up being a large operation with a possible significant cost to the taxpayer if they have to hire a bunch of people to upgrade the systems, but the potential cost to the UK if a major incident occurs.

It's just nice to know that we have a government who is knowledgeable about security and the internet.