Internet Explorer 8 : Safest browser?

[Zeus_Hunt]

After the release of IE 8,the question now arises is about security ? How secure is IE8 compared to other browsers like Firefox ,Chrome ,Opera or Apple’s Safari.Current trends show over 50% of malware infections occur via Internet downloads.The answer to security has been given by NSS Labs. They conducted security tests on various browsers to find out which is more secure and safe. Out of which IE8 emerged as the safest.

NSS Labs performed the industry’s first comprehensive test of web browser protection against socially engineered malware. This report examines the ability of six different web browsers to protect users from this leading threat. The results are based upon empirically validated evidence gathered by NSS Labs during 12 days of 24×7 testing of more than 154,000 individual tests.

The browsers made to test are

* Apple Safari v3

* Google Chrome 1.0.154

* Microsoft Internet Explorer v8 (RC1)

* Microsoft Internet Explorer v7

* Mozilla Firefox v3.07

* Opera 9.64

Solid research firm NSS Labs in his study seeks to demonstrate that the new IE8 is safest web browser of all browsers. In addition, IE7 is seated, “History of mucky”. I suggest to read this PDF document, it is really well illustrated and justified.

Here we will present you experiment: put a browsers handle 492 “infected” a URL address. IE8 capacity 69% of cases, to block harmful content. 2nd place - FF to 30%, then Safari3 with 24% Chrome - 16%, Opera - 5%.

To read the report you can download the report pdf or registered users can view this page.So finally Microsoft is doing this right this time.

View : Original Article

Unfortunately the tests were conducted 1 generation behind the current version the above browsers are on. ;)

[Bizarre™]

They should test all the browsers again since security patches / updates were already issued!

[Lammster]

Unfortunately the tests were conducted 1 generation behind the current version the above browsers are on.

dude, those are pretty up to date builds, betas notwithstanding.

The current builds of all tested:

Apple Safari 3.2.1

Google Chrome 1.0.154.53

Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0.6001.18702 [stable]

Mozilla Firefox 3.08

Opera 9.64

[Bizarre™]

@Lammster:

Try it on nightly builds ;)

[manbotdbot]

When I see Internet Explorer being the top 1 when compared to other browsers, it makes me think MS paid the company. Oh well. I'd still be using Opera and Firefox.

[mosaji]

Firefox with its addons has no match

[donizme]

Firefox with addons is great and I use it also...

but it does have a massive drawback, I always notice every addon slows Firefox down, I have 13 addons and its about 50% slower than a fresh install, I suspect Firefox 3.5 with tracemoney and improved rendering engine will fix this! ;)

[Toshiro]

I don't really care if it's safer, I know how to surf on the web, so I know which sites/etc are bad

It's been over 1 year, maybe even more, that I got a virus on my machine ;)

I want to know if IE8 is faster than the rest.. :P

[bearoninternet]

I don't really care if it's safer, I know how to surf on the web, so I know which sites/etc are bad

It's been over 1 year, maybe even more, that I got a virus on my machine ;)

I want to know if IE8 is faster than the rest.. :P

I agree, personally i prefer my ferrari over volvo anytime :tooth:

But thats not the point here; if ie8 really is the safest browser at the moment, other browsercompanies should start paying attention.

Mozilla for instance is claiming to build the safest browser, so they better make sure they really are.

Thanks for the post Zeus, interesting. :s

[Toshiro]

Yea, but that was a test in 2006...3 years ago..

An independent study shows that, in 2006, IE users were vulnerable to online threats 78% of the time. Firefox users? Only 2%.

Everything could happen in 3 years..

[mosaji]

I don't really care if it's safer, I know how to surf on the web, so I know which sites/etc are bad

It's been over 1 year, maybe even more, that I got a virus on my machine ;)

I want to know if IE8 is faster than the rest.. :P

IE8 is much much faster than FF3.0.8 but without the FF addons it's not fun surfing the web with IE8

[RadioActive]

Personally I use Opera mainly (never FF, tyvm) but when I tried IE8 at work I was impressed, it actually has some interesting features. Well, it won't replace Opera for me but now it become my 2nd choice while IE7 was never on the menu.

[Marik]

When I see Internet Explorer being the top 1 when compared to other browsers, it makes me think MS paid the company.

funny thing is, they actually did...only ms can stoop that low

[Peace_Angel]

When I see Internet Explorer being the top 1 when compared to other browsers, it makes me think MS paid the company.

funny thing is, they actually did...only ms can stoop that low

Are you sure? It might actually be true that IE8 is the safest browser at the moment. Guess its time to update my old IE7. Been using only FF3 since it came out - fast browser compared to IE7.

Peace.

[Marik]

of course I'm sure

when vista first got released, allot of people complained that it's rubbish

and suddenly some site were praising it all of a sudden...hell, I'll praise anything if I knew I was getting paid for it.

I can even give you an example, over at dotnetwizzard. The guy named NickelGreen just got hired by M$ that year. If you have the time, and patience to read all of that text, be my guest.

http://dotnetwizard.net/vista-stuff/twelve-unnecessary-vista-features-to-disable/

[Zeus_Hunt]

I use IE8 at office for the intranet work.

Its pretty fine.

Before that I prefered using IE6 rather than IE7.

IE7 was 1 bloated piece of shit.

And I found Vista pretty fine as well once it is reduced to around 700 Mb installation.

As far as I know the security on Vista was much better than WinXP.

[Donaldo]

I need to use IE at office since the site in question works exclusively on activeX. IE8, IMO is better than IE7/6. However, at the pathetically infrequent rate at which Microsoft rolls out updates, I'm sorry but I vest my vote with Marik & donizme

And hullo Bill Gates I don't see you securing your brawser with silly activeX (activeX = pimps of vulnerabilities.) And hey Billy, next time you wanna garner votes on security, try nsaneforums - :lol: :lmao: know better than those virgins NSS Labs (we don't succumb to bribes, either.)

[Lammster]

@Lammster:

Try it on nightly builds :lol:

No thanks, those things are usually alphas for a reason. I'm suspicious of M$ as the next guy, but if this study is valid, than I think its a refreshing turn for them. At least they're trying to stay competitive rather than buying everyone else out.

[Rock Lee]

...At least they're trying to stay competitive rather than buying everyone else out.

Good point. I still use IE8 from time to time. Chrome is becoming my #1 tho.

In terms of safety, IE8 wins hands down. The only flaw with it is the amount

of memory it uses. If they would get up off their arses & release a new build with

less memory lag I would be one happy ninja :battle:.

► Rock Lee

[Bizarre™]

@Lammster:

Nightly builds are nothing of the kind you're thinking of.

Let's just say they are 0-Day releases :battle:

[Noddy]

I hate Microsoft not Internet Explorer 8 because every copy of Windows comes slip-streamed with IE. Hence hackers concentrate on coding more exploits for IE than for any other browser.

[Zeus_Hunt]

IE8 Uses 90% Less Memory than IE7 in 24-Hour Long Haul Testing

“We are able to quantify these improvements using various tests and analyses, and compare our results to IE7. For example, we are now able to run stress tests continuously for over 12 hours on IE8, compared to less than 8 hours on IE7. Also, we found that IE8 uses up 90% less memory than IE7 after running continuously for 24 hours under Long Haul testing,” Herman stated. “We’re convinced that our approaches to identifying reliability issues have generated significant stability improvements to IE8.”

Herman Site

[manbotdbot]

What browser uses the least resources?

[oZ.]

I don't really care if it's safer, I know how to surf on the web, so I know which sites/etc are bad

It's been over 1 year, maybe even more, that I got a virus on my machine :nono:

I want to know if IE8 is faster than the rest.. :frusty:

Firefox v3.0.* + addon ( Tweak Network ) that will be much faster https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/327

pwn ie8 not mention IE 8 should be competing with Firefox v3.5 + trace monkey

[irefay]

Ive been using nightly's for about a year now. I think its been about 3 times that I have had problems... fixed the next day.