Internet Explorer 6.x More Secure Than Firefox 1.x In 2006

killerbichon

Sep 9 2006, 06:22 PM

From here: http://poptech.blogspot.com/2006/09/intern...ecure-than.html

QUOTE

Is Browser Security getting better? That is tough to say but Firefox is definitely not leading the way. Despite all the hype, despite all the Myths, Firefox 1.x has a worse security record so far in 2006 than Internet Explorer 6.x.

The popular security site Secunia reports advisories that can include multiple security vulnerabilities of a product. The most severe Firefox Secunia advisories tend to get posted at each version update of the browser. These version update advisories mislead someone looking simply at the advisory totals:

Firefox v1.5.05 - 7/27/06 - SA19873 - 7/27/06 - 13 Vulnerabilities
Firefox v1.5.04 - 6/01/06 - SA20376 - 6/02/06 - 10 Vulnerabilities
Firefox v1.5.02 - 4/12/06 - SA19631 - 4/13/06 - 27 Vulnerabilities
Firefox v1.5.01 - 2/01/06 - SA18700 - 2/02/06 - 8 Vulnerabilities

Simply looking at the advisories between Firefox 1.x in 2006 and Internet Explorer 6.x in 2006 gives a misleading 9 to 13 advisory "win" for Firefox but once you add up the actual vulnerabilities for each it is clear Internet Explorer 6.x has been the more secure browser so far in 2006:

Firefox 1.x - 9 Advisories = 64 Vulnerabilities
Internet Explorer 6.x - 13 Advisories = 30 Vulnerabilities

Winner:
IE

Comment:
Since we don't have the source code for IE, how would we know if it is better or worse? It certainly hasn't been out as long. I will continue to use Firefox.

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Amezis

Sep 9 2006, 06:37 PM

Yes, it is not very known that although firefox claims that they are "faster, safer and better", it is not really the truth. As you state it, there are more KNOWN vulnerabilities in Firefox than Internet Explorer.

And since I am talking about this, it may be interesting that Firefox is NOT faster than Internet Explorer (6 and 7), according to this widely accepted test:
http://www.howtocreate.co.uk/browserSpeed.html#winspeed
In this test, Opera is clearly the fastest. Also, Opera has less security vulneberabilities than Firefox AND Internet Explorer. The reason that people believes that Firefox is faster is because Firefox is using another technique to load the pages - it starts displaying the page BEFORE the site is loaded, while Internet Explorer waits before it displays the page.

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sylenzednuke

Sep 9 2006, 07:49 PM

Well, I agree that according to tests, Firefox is not the best browser, but I don't care what these tests show.
I mean to say, I have tried Opera and IE both and I feel that Firefox is faster then Opera and also I have encountered less problems while using Firefox then using Opera or IE so nomatter what these tests say, I like Firefox and it works wonders atleast for me and thats the thing I should care about...
It works faster when I see it and I have encountered less problems...

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Amezis

Sep 9 2006, 08:20 PM

Well, I do not think Firefox is faster than Opera. Opera is much faster than Firefox when it is loading large pages, and is also loading the page while the CSS and Javascript is loading (if it is in an external file), unlike Firefox which loads all external files before starting on the HTML part (and IE which waits for everything to load before displaying the content).

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Albus Dumbledore

Sep 9 2006, 08:32 PM

studys may show that its slower than other browsers, and less secure, and yet i have gotten less spyware, and less virisus from using Firefox than in IE... for me, firefox loads the fastest.. i have tried IE, and Opera and Netscape browsers, but they load superslower than FF does atleast for me, and on every other computer i have downloaded it on..

FF will always be my favorite browser and that'll never change

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midnitesun

Sep 9 2006, 11:29 PM

i think it depends on the users preferences as to which browser is better , if we start a debate surely nobody will win because both IE and firefox are good in their own ways , i personally prefer IE even though firefox came to my rescue several times when i get infected with very bad spyware ( which had happened a couple of times , and i had to download and use firefox untill i was able get rid of the spyware ) but everytime i uninstall firefox and return to my good old IE with whom i dont seem to able to part with , i have never tried opera purely because i dont like to experiment with softwares on my own , i will leave it to the experts and whichever they clain is the best would my best choice too

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FirefoxRocks

Sep 10 2006, 04:16 AM

Opera loads the content before CSS and JavaScript.
Firefox loads the CSS and JavaScript first.
Internet Explorer loads everything then displays the page.

For the page to show up, it seems that Opera is the fastest however Opera and Firefox seem to be too close to make a difference out of.

As for security, if you have common sense, appropriate security software and basic knowledge, I think that Avant Browser, Opera, Maxthon and Netscape are tied for first, Firefox, SeaMonkey and Mozilla leading 2nd and Internet Explorer 3rd.

Compatibility, um....Firefox is the best. Opera doesn't support many addons (although it has Widgets) and other browsers don't support a lot.
For websites, Internet Explorer and Firefox are tied for first.

That's all I will compare tonight.

Don't be mislead by my nickname

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Cool_Freaker

Sep 11 2006, 02:02 PM

I guess it should be of some concern that Firefox has more security issues than IE. Essentially though, the benefits offered by FF over IE has more than won me over - that and I am rather skeptical of IE 6.x ever being more secure.

I did go and download Opera after reading this post though. Seems to be quite good, though I haven't tested compatability with sites etc as FFRocks seems to be suggesting it may have issues wish.

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franz see

Sep 23 2006, 03:48 PM

Firefox MAY have more vulnerabilites than IE...but the question then becomes, how may attacks are targeted to IE as compared to Firefox?

I'm not sure about the statistics, but i think most people still uses IE. THUS, if you're going to design an attack, what would you target? .....certainly the most popular ones

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terminal2k

Sep 23 2006, 06:41 PM

well if you look at it from one perspective you could say Internet Explorer is more secure than Firefox, but you need to take into account more things than just the quantity of vulnerabilities. You need to look at how severe the problem is (a lot of IE problems will let the attacker have full control of your computer) and more importantly, how fast the problems are fixed. You will find it takes microsoft longer to release patches when problems are found.

As for firefox vs opera. I like both browsers, opera seems nice but I prefer the way firefox operates so I think I'll stick with it for the moment

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