It’s a Browser Bust-out.

Well we will have to wait and see if Mozilla have managed to set a Guinness World Record for the most amount of on-line downloads in a single day with the release of Firefox3.

It has been a busy time in the browser world of late. Opera released their new browser a week or so back.  Let us not forget that there is a BETA of IE 8 out there as well. So, there is plenty of choice and competition out there now in the world of browsers. That is no bad thing.

In reading the releases and reviews for these new browsers it struck me that, yes, there are some enhancements and new functionality in the user interface, but they all talk up the new and enhanced security message. This is to be welcomed as the past 12 months have seen the rise of browser targeted attacks. As such, the message and tone from all the browser guys is that they have ‘hardened’ their browsers to stop some of the attacks of the past and to make them more difficult to compromise going forward.  The Browser is turning out to be the new battle-ground. It is the ‘window’ to the world of the internet for most users and it is where we work and play. Hence, why it is so important that the browser is better protected and strengthened.  We at Symantec have long believed in this. In the past couple of years we have built into the browser additional security features and functions to help out on this e.g. real-time anti-phishing, identity protection, protection against drive-by-downloading. 

The new browsers are moving in this direction as well. But, I don’t see that our job is done. I fully expect that we will continue to build out enhanced security functionality on the back of what the browser guys have already done.

PS: I have just read the first posting of a vulnerability with Firefox 3. Nothing changes.

June 19, 2008 | Filed Under Security 

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