A great post at OCforums: are you secure?
- Thread starter Edward78
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guess im switching to firefox then 
good find
good findguess im switching to firefox then
Well I post there also, so easy to find.)
Soldato
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Firefox has been a 'less secure browser' for the last 3 years than IE7 with XP SP2 (and up) has. BS post
Any browser can be made reasonably more secure than the defaults.
Care to qualify that statement with some links?
Care to qualify that statement with some links?
I like Firefox and dislike IE as much as anybody, but saying that it's more secure than IE is fanciful, at least on Vista. IE7 and 8 on Vista run in a protected mode where the browser runs as a low-integrity process, meaning that the system can't be infected through the browser, even if the browser is compromised. IE is the most secure browser on Vista (and that's the default configuration, so it doesn't need any messing around.)
Generally informative post, although nothing certain individuals here haven't being saying for ages.
I would say however the IE vs Firefox thing is a bit contentious - granted it was posted in 2007 but IE8 in protected mode is arguably better.
He makes out that anyone sniffing your wifi traffic can read anything but this isn't strictly true as it doesn't apply to encrypted traffic.
Also writing down passwords at home is perfectly acceptable in most cases.
I would say however the IE vs Firefox thing is a bit contentious - granted it was posted in 2007 but IE8 in protected mode is arguably better.
He makes out that anyone sniffing your wifi traffic can read anything but this isn't strictly true as it doesn't apply to encrypted traffic.
Also writing down passwords at home is perfectly acceptable in most cases.
Soldato
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Login to Secuna, look at the amount of Serious or Critical vulnerabilities for each product.
I can't back up that particular statement but have a look at this:
http://secunia.com/gfx/Secunia2008Report.pdf
Page 11 specifically. In 2008 Firefox had more reported vulnerabilites than IE, Opera and Safari combined. However on the flip side these are usually patched quickly which is why software updates are absolutely critical.
More reported vulnerabilites could be a good thing, meaning that it is more secure as the bugs have been found and fixed. You have to remember that FireFox is the number #2 target when it comes to browsers and that the number #1 target, IE has had a lot more time to get things right.
More importantly you don't know what vulnerabilities have been found internally by the IE/Safari/Opera/Chrome devs, unless you trust that they report them all.
As theheyes hinted at, time to fix and time to ship a fixed version are important too.
As theheyes hinted at, time to fix and time to ship a fixed version are important too.
Add the mighty Ad-muncher and you've got a cracking all round solution. Personaly i'm loving the IE8/ Win7x64/Ad muncher combo
Such metrics are inconclusive, IMO. Open source disclosure vs closed source disclosure. BTW, before accusations of bias start flying.. I'm not in denial just because the results cast a negative light on my preferred browser.
IE's protected mode is a welcome addition on Windows. It's just as well that Firefox and other browsers can be made to run as low integrity processes on Vista. More choice is always good.
No?
I prefer IE8 in protected mode for the same reasons as the above posters. IE8 has a massive dev team behind it and can release patches in days for anything found where as other browsers just dont have as many resources to throw at it. As it's a very well known product people are doing there best to hack it so you can be sure that any vulnerabilities out there will be found / patched.
M.