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Internet Security Threat Report (registration required). Symantec found that during the first six months of 2005, the volume and the severity of Firefox's reported vulne rabilities was greater than that reported for Internet Explorer. On the surface, that sounds pretty bad, and it gives the Firefox naysayers fresh ammo, but I have a copy of the Symantec report myself. D oes it give me pause to rethink our Editors' Choice for Firefox?
Microsoft is well known to be tone-deaf to independ ent security researchers. Fun with statistics Let's look at those numbers in greater detail. Symantec says that from Ja nuary through June 2005, there were 25 vendor-confirmed vulnerabilities reported in Mozilla Firefox, 18 of which Symantec classified as high thr eats, while there were 13 vendor-confirmed vulnerabilities reported in M icrosoft Internet Explorer, 8 of which were classified as high threats. But Symantec's talking about only those vulnerabilities that the vendor confirms, not all of the publicly known vulnerabilities that are out the re. Microsoft is well known to be tone-deaf to independent security rese archers. A more holistic view comes from security vendor Secunia, which issues its own vulnerability alerts, whether a vendor recognizes them or not.
So, ac cording to Secunia, Mozilla offers its users a 94 percent patch rate, wh ile Microsoft provides only a 37 percent patch rate. From 2003 to 2005, Secunia reported 22 security flaws in Firefox 1x and 83 security flaws in Inter net Explorer 6x But, to be fair, Internet Explorer 6x has been out lo nger, and the vulnerability number is cumulative; A more accurate match would be 22 security vul nerabilities in Firefox 1x vs. If I'm going to conduct my banking and other such services online, I'm su re as heck not going to use Internet Explorer.
For example, if you want to fill out a Katrina claim form on line with FEMA, you have no other choice but to use the only 66 percent secure Internet Explorer 6x Spin I think the recent reports about inherent Firefox's insecurity have been taken out of context. Yes, now that Firefox enjoys roughly 10 percent of the browser market, security researchers are giving it more scrutiny, a nd naturally, they're finding more flaws. According to Symantec, criminal hackers still prefer to exploit the vulnerabilities w ithin Internet Explorer. It's better that Firefox work out its kinks now rather than under the harsh glare of a computer virus or worm epidemic.
It's better that Firefox work out its kinks now rat her than under the harsh glare of a computer virus or a worm epidemic. Truth is, I really don't care how many security vulnerabilities are found in a given software product (I once tested and documented software; I k now that "unintended features" appear within even the best products from time to time); I ask only that the vendor be responsible and fix the se curity vulnerabilities, especially the critical ones, in a timely fashio n Microsoft isn't one of those vendors. According to Secunia, Internet Explorer 6x has several unpatched, critical security vulnerabilities da ting back to 2003 (the first year Secunia offered its own security alert s). And this month, Microsoft arrogantly decided not to issue any securi ty patches--none. there's more If you're truly fed up with the whole Internet Explorer vs.
Netscape 8, which uses technology from both Microsoft and Mozilla, flipping back and fort h to render pages based on Netscape's own White Lists of secure and inse cure URLs. I like Netscape, and I have used it for many years as my defa ult browser (before Firefox).
I also like s ome of the cutting-edge features found only within Opera 8, but if I'd p aid $40 to download Opera a month ago, I'd be bummed that everyone else can get this browser for free now. I told the CEO of Opera the pay-to-vi ew-without-ads model was a huge limitation when they visited CNET about a year ago. Now that Opera is less than 1 percent of the market, I guess they took that criticism to heart.
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