minstrel
Jun 20th 2005, 7:49 pm
Browser Alternatives Are No Guarantee of Security (http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,120768,tk,wb062005x,00.asp)
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
by Andrew Brandt, PC World
If you use an alternative browser--Firefox, Opera, Mozilla, or anything not named Internet Explorer--you may be feeling pretty smug these days. Every time you hear about another patch for IE or about another way hackers use that browser to attack unsuspecting Web users, you think to yourself, "I don't have to worry."
Well, think again. The fact is, alternatives like Firefox have security problems of their own. And even if you don't use Internet Explorer for your everyday browsing, you still have to keep it patched: Those ever-creative hackers have found ways to enter your system through Firefox, and then exploit IE.
If you grabbed your copy of Firefox or Mozilla a few months ago, you're at risk. Programmers have discovered at least 28 holes in Firefox since January 1. The Mozilla browser shared 27 of those problems with Firefox (click here for details (http://www.mozilla.org/security)). You must install a new copy of the browser. Use Secunia's tool (http://secunia.com/mozilla_products_arbitrary_memory_exposure_test/) to see whether your browser is vulnerable.
The right piece of malware could trigger older versions of Mozilla or Firefox to launch programs at will or to read data from the browser cache out of memory, threatening your privacy by exposing your browser history, search queries, and possibly passwords.
Opera has released security fixes this year, too, though fewer than Mozilla and Firefox. To get more details, click here (http://www.opera.com/support/service/security/).
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
by Andrew Brandt, PC World
If you use an alternative browser--Firefox, Opera, Mozilla, or anything not named Internet Explorer--you may be feeling pretty smug these days. Every time you hear about another patch for IE or about another way hackers use that browser to attack unsuspecting Web users, you think to yourself, "I don't have to worry."
Well, think again. The fact is, alternatives like Firefox have security problems of their own. And even if you don't use Internet Explorer for your everyday browsing, you still have to keep it patched: Those ever-creative hackers have found ways to enter your system through Firefox, and then exploit IE.
If you grabbed your copy of Firefox or Mozilla a few months ago, you're at risk. Programmers have discovered at least 28 holes in Firefox since January 1. The Mozilla browser shared 27 of those problems with Firefox (click here for details (http://www.mozilla.org/security)). You must install a new copy of the browser. Use Secunia's tool (http://secunia.com/mozilla_products_arbitrary_memory_exposure_test/) to see whether your browser is vulnerable.
The right piece of malware could trigger older versions of Mozilla or Firefox to launch programs at will or to read data from the browser cache out of memory, threatening your privacy by exposing your browser history, search queries, and possibly passwords.
Opera has released security fixes this year, too, though fewer than Mozilla and Firefox. To get more details, click here (http://www.opera.com/support/service/security/).