Firefox Is More Hacker Friendly Than Internet Explorer
A recent report released by Honeynet Project shows that Internet Explorer 6 is more secure than Firefox 1.5. Granted both of these browsers have now been upgraded with their latest counterparts, but the results of the study are interesting nonetheless don’t you think?
Common perception about Internet Explorer and Firefox is that Firefox is safe and Internet Explorer is unsafe. However, a review of the remote code execution vulnerabilities (primary source: SecurityFocus) that were publicly disclosed for Firefox 1.5 and Internet Explorer SP2 reveals that, in fact, more were disclosed for Firefox 1.5 indicating more the opposite is true.
Before we get too excited though, Internet Explorer isn’t in the clear by any means. Because of the increased popularity of the browser compared to Firefox and the more tightly integration into the operating system, Internet Explorer is still a huge target.
We can only speculate why Firefox wasn’t targeted. We suspect that attacking Firefox is a more difficult task as it uses an automated and “immediate” update mechanism. Since Firefox is a standalone application that is not as integrated with the operating system as Internet Explorer, we suspect that users are more likely to have this update mechanism turned on. Firefox is truly a moving target. The success of an attack on a user of Internet Explorer 6 SP2 is likely to be higher than on a Firefox user, and therefore attackers target Internet Explorer 6 SP2.
I’m still using Internet Explorer 7 as my primary browser but also have Firefox loaded and updated. I’ve been happy with my experience still and haven’t run into any security issues or viruses in a couple of years I believe….knock on silicon.
Source: Firefox or IE? Strange answer to security question
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1 opinion for Firefox Is More Hacker Friendly Than Internet Explorer
Firefox Myths | Foxfire Facts
Dec 15, 2007 at 6:22 am
[…] Reality - Internet Explorer 6 has been more secure than Firefox 1.x in 2006. - Source - Source 2 […]
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