Browser Wars - a security perspective

OK, here I go again, promoting Microsoft.  Gosh, I just be in their back pocket, or stupid, or something, eh?  Everyone knows that Firefox is better than IE, and Safari is the best browser around, and Chrome is going to kick Microsoft's butt, and Opera, well, it's just the best.

And everyone knows that Internet Explorer is buggy, and full of security holes, and, well, just stupid, as is anyone who uses it, right?

Not so fast!  What about facts?  I like facts.  Facts are stubborn things, as someone once said, and that's true.  They are often inconvenient, too, when they fly in the face of what people feel, or want, or believe.  Feeling and wanting and believing are great things - most of the world runs on those and they are valuable and important.

However, when assessing technology, facts are just so good to have.

Here are some:

http://nsslabs.com/test-reports/Q309_Browser_Security_Summary_Final.pdf

The net of this.  Internet Explorer isn't all that bad.  In fact, it's better than the others in two key areas that are central to security in today's world.  Read, if you like facts.  It's only one page!

If you want to see the full reports, they're here:

http://nsslabs.com/browser-security

Update on Saturday, October 13, 2012 at 9:47AM by Don Ferguson

This topic comes up often. In the three years since the original post on this topic, IE appears to have gotten stronger, and Firefix weaker. Chrome and Safari are in about the same shape they have always been: erratic and weak, respectively.

See the original post for an overview, and this graphic for a sample of what's what as of September, 2012.

More detail here: https://www.nsslabs.com/system/files/content/report/files/2012_AB_Is-Your-Browser-Putting-You-At-Risk_0.pdf