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Hackers Target Safari and Firefox Browsers

by Tim Stevens on April 28, 2008 at 09:49 AM

Hackers Going on Safari, Hunting FirefoxIt's long been held that Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) browser was far and away the least secure browser available. Anyone who thought otherwise only had to look at the long and constant IE security bulletins to see what could be perceived as a glaring hole in the thing. But it seems as though maybe those updates are at least partially due only to commonality, as the increasing popularity of Firefox and Safari is putting those browsers under fire.

Firefox has released two updates to Firefox over the past six weeks, fixing five critical security holes that could let attackers access a user's browsing history -- not exactly life threatening stuff here, but still disconcerting. Apple's Safari is rather more compromised, since it allows attackers to completely take over your computer, and rather less fixed, as no updates to solve the problem are available.

These attacks and compromised levels of security are held to be due to those browsers' new-found popularity. IE, on the other hand, which has seen its usage wane in recent months, had no security vulnerabilities to report in the last month, meaning hackers may be getting tired of beating up on the thing. So which browser is most secure? Our money's still on Firefox, but IE is clearly not a bad choice either. [Source: Washington Post]

Tags: breaking news, BreakingNews, browsers, firefox, internet explorer, InternetExplorer, safari, security

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