Symantec: Mozilla browsers more vulnerable than IE

ZDNet News ^ | 9/19/2005 | Tom Espiner

[N3WBI3]

In otherwords all the features that are built into firefox..

[WSGilcrest]

I've tried firefox and didn't like it. Didn't render some web pages correctly for some reason. Too used to IE, which by the way I've never had a problem with. I found this --> http://www.avantbrowser.com/ which is basically an IE shell. Very configurable, and it has tabbed browsing.I think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread.

[softwarecreator]

I cleaned the s*** out, got FF and the problem stopped. Any questions?

Nope, but installing MS toolbar will eliminate these problems, at least it has proven reliable for me.

PS: I am a Detroit Tiger fan (and ½ Polish) so thanks for putting Al's pic up.  A little sports store in Hamtramck used to have his pic prominently displayed on the wall when I was a kid and I never forgot him.

[N3WBI3]

Don't forget, hackers have had 10 years to pick thru IE, as opposed to a couple of years with FireFox.

Ill let you guess how old the engine for firefox is...

Im not saying they wont find bugs what I am saying is that the bugs they have found are less severe and fixed faster. I have stated a fact..

FF is quickly getting onto the radar of the hackers and the vulnerabilities will grow more severe as they pry deeper and deeper in mozilla's holes.

You have stated an opinion..

[LexBaird]

Symantec has always been in bed with Microsoft.

[Insert gratuitous v.d. joke here]

[Golden Eagle]

[softwarecreator]

If it takes a half truth to make MS look good

Nah, one look at their Earnings Report, marketshare and total users will do that all by itself.

[softwarecreator]

Yeah, but you can download them for free and it takes very little time to install.

And I am pretty sure they will be built into IE7 so that kind of takes the strength out of your argument.

[TFMcGuire]

I use Firfox becuase of the better speed on my dialup and its nice graphics and flexibility.

I also love the fact that in the "Favorites" folder it keeps the original site symbols instead of IE pirating them and converting them all into Microsoft generic folders.

Firefox is more theme versatile (Hate cats but love the red cats green flavor theme). It is also not bound so intregally into the OS. Big problem---delete Firefox and download it again.

I also use IE and some times use both browsers simultaneously.

That said, I also think that Microsoft has been maligned a bit unfairly. Of course all the hackers are going to attack the most widely-used browser. Microsoft has been timely and consistent with providing patches.

[N3WBI3]

Hey nobody has ever said they make bad business decisions..

[American in Singapore]

Stick with Firefox.

Reported vulnerabilities mean very little. Vulnerabilities themselves do nothing - it's only until they are exploited does security become threatened and, trust me, almost all browser attacks are directed at IE.

Also, I would not put it beneath infosec companies to hire "security researchers" to find vulnerabilities and report them just to drum up this kind of false perception. The reason is obvious.

[N3WBI3]

It also takes the "oss does not innovate" out of the MS shills sails...

[softwarecreator]

Ill let you guess how old the engine for firefox is...

Yes, but very few people bothered to waste their time hacking into a browser that only a few would use.  And Netscape after 4.0 royally sucked, so Mozilla was pretty much forgotten.

Again, it comes to how widespread the use of the browser is.

[usastandsunited]

According to the report, 25 vendor-confirmed vulnerabilities were disclosed for the Mozilla browsers during the first half of 2005, "the most of any browser studied," the report's authors stated. Eighteen of these flaws were classified as high severity. "During the same period, 13 vendor-confirmed vulnerabilities were disclosed for IE, eight of which were high severity," the report noted.

Maybe this is fair comparsion, but maybe it is comparing apples to oranges. How many of the 25 flaws in firefox were the result of the browser being widely exploited and how many were the result of people that were able to read the source code discover ? By the same token, how many of IE's flaws were the result of the browser being widely exploited, and how many were discovered by people being able to see the source code ? The point is, it is possible because IE is closed source, many more vulnerabilies are not discovered until its too late.

[LexBaird]

"Companies that make money stick with other companies that make them money!" There, I fixed it for ya.

[N3WBI3]

But a few minutes ago that was not your argument you said they only had a couple of years when in fact the engine is older than that of ie.

[Incorrigible]

Amen brother, amen.

[softwarecreator]

I also use IE and some times use both browsers simultaneously.

So do I on a regular basis.  I like certain features on each of them.

And I agree with IE being embedded too deeply into the OS, it's something MS made a big mistake in doing.

[Incorrigible]

And I agree with IE being embedded too deeply into the OS, it's something MS made a big mistake in doing.

If they didn't, Bill and Steve were afraid Janet Reno was going to send tanks and incendiary grenades into Building 8!

 

[Incorrigible]

Sounds OK to me!