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  3. Most secure browser? [modified]

Most secure browser? [modified]

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  • E Ennis Ray Lynch Jr

    lynx is probably the most secure.

    Need custom software developed? I do C# development and consulting all over the United States.
    If you don't ask questions the answers won't stand in your way.
    Doing a job is like selecting a mule, you can't choose just the front half xor the back half so when you ask me to do a job don't expect me to do it half-assed.

    A Offline
    A Offline
    Ashley van Gerven
    wrote on last edited by
    #11

    I wonder if the Lounge is Lynx-compatible :confused: :)

    L 1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • A Ashley van Gerven

      How's that? As far as I'm concerned the browser should not allow any executable to be run by the OS without the user's intervention. I'm also at a total loss how come Avast managed to warn me and even though I hit Quarantine it still proceeded. I'm a huge Firefox fan, but this has really suprised me. Especially as it's regarded widely as the secure alternative to the exploit-prone IE.

      G Offline
      G Offline
      Graham Bradshaw
      wrote on last edited by
      #12

      Ashley van Gerven wrote:

      Especially as it's regarded widely as the secure alternative to the exploit-prone IE.

      Right. Firefox is secure... See this fix put into v3.0.6[^]. Do you really think that Firefox has no more exploits in it?

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      • A Ashley van Gerven

        I wonder if the Lounge is Lynx-compatible :confused: :)

        L Offline
        L Offline
        Lost User
        wrote on last edited by
        #13

        Yes and no, see the The lounge in Lynx[^]. Download[^] and send to USB; :-D

        I are troll :)

        1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • A Ashley van Gerven

          *EDIT* After Shog's post I investigated and the Avast log shows the warning came from a IE cache folder, not Firefox. So an instance of IE must have been running withing Firefox or within some other malware. It could have been an IE tab within Firefox, although I don't recall switching a tab to IE. Nonetheless I feel really bad for publicly blaming Firefox, just because it seemed the obvious culprit - but I should have looked for proof. BTW I am running IE 7 and up to date with patches - so I'm baffled which security hole was exploited here. Firefox 3.0.6 seems to have a security hole. I guess I was wrong in thinking that the latest version of Firefox is secure enough to prevent malware installing itself on my computer. And on top of that Avast! didn't quite manage to prevent it either. It did give some warning, but didn't prevent 'XP Police' (a fake antivirus proggie) from installing itself and disabling Avast! and disabling Task manager. So from the command line I managed to kill it: taskkill /F /IM xppolice.exe EDIT: Malwarebytes' scanner/fixer seems pretty effective (trial): http://www.download.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html[^] So is Chrome more secure? Or which browser(s) are likely to be the most secure?

          modified on Friday, February 13, 2009 9:30 PM


          Last modified: 30hrs 28mins after originally posted --

          "For fifty bucks I'd put my face in their soup and blow." - George Costanza

          CP article: SmartPager - a Flickr-style pager control with go-to-page popup layer.

          H Offline
          H Offline
          Henry Minute
          wrote on last edited by
          #14

          Never mind which Browser is most secure. Which site did you get the infection from. Is it KSS enough for you to warn us, so that we can mitigate our chances of picking it up?

          Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.”

          L 1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • A Ashley van Gerven

            How's that? As far as I'm concerned the browser should not allow any executable to be run by the OS without the user's intervention. I'm also at a total loss how come Avast managed to warn me and even though I hit Quarantine it still proceeded. I'm a huge Firefox fan, but this has really suprised me. Especially as it's regarded widely as the secure alternative to the exploit-prone IE.

            P Offline
            P Offline
            Phil Martin
            wrote on last edited by
            #15

            That is an interesting expectation for the browser - to not allow executables to be run. It's a fair one. One could be just as fair and expect the operating system shouldn't allow the browser to run any executable it shouldn't be. Interesting! (to me anyway)

            1 Reply Last reply
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            • H Henry Minute

              Never mind which Browser is most secure. Which site did you get the infection from. Is it KSS enough for you to warn us, so that we can mitigate our chances of picking it up?

              Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.”

              L Offline
              L Offline
              leppie
              wrote on last edited by
              #16

              I am willing to bet, my AV-less, anti-spyware-less and unfirewalled Vista would not pick that stuff up without human intervention. :)

              xacc.ide - now with TabsToSpaces support
              IronScheme - 1.0 beta 2 - out now!
              ((lambda (x) `((lambda (x) ,x) ',x)) '`((lambda (x) ,x) ',x))

              H 1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • A Ashley van Gerven

                How's that? As far as I'm concerned the browser should not allow any executable to be run by the OS without the user's intervention. I'm also at a total loss how come Avast managed to warn me and even though I hit Quarantine it still proceeded. I'm a huge Firefox fan, but this has really suprised me. Especially as it's regarded widely as the secure alternative to the exploit-prone IE.

                Richard Andrew x64R Offline
                Richard Andrew x64R Offline
                Richard Andrew x64
                wrote on last edited by
                #17

                Ashley van Gerven wrote:

                it's regarded widely as the secure alternative to the exploit-prone IE.

                Who regards it as the secure alternative to IE? Apparently, only people who fall victim to the myths and propaganda. Take a look at this page, and scroll down to the "Security" section: http://home.comcast.net/~SupportCD/FirefoxMyths.html[^]

                A 1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • L leppie

                  I am willing to bet, my AV-less, anti-spyware-less and unfirewalled Vista would not pick that stuff up without human intervention. :)

                  xacc.ide - now with TabsToSpaces support
                  IronScheme - 1.0 beta 2 - out now!
                  ((lambda (x) `((lambda (x) ,x) ',x)) '`((lambda (x) ,x) ',x))

                  H Offline
                  H Offline
                  Henry Minute
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #18

                  Oh yes. I nominate myself as the most insecure browser. :)

                  Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.”

                  L 1 Reply Last reply
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                  • H Henry Minute

                    Oh yes. I nominate myself as the most insecure browser. :)

                    Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.”

                    L Offline
                    L Offline
                    leppie
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #19

                    Henry Minute wrote:

                    I nominate myself as the most insecure browser.

                    Do you get offended easily? Well do you, wimp? ;P

                    xacc.ide - now with TabsToSpaces support
                    IronScheme - 1.0 beta 2 - out now!
                    ((lambda (x) `((lambda (x) ,x) ',x)) '`((lambda (x) ,x) ',x))

                    H 1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • A Ashley van Gerven

                      Well it definitely happened to my system - running latest Firefox. Avast's initial warning had a temporary internet folder path in the dialog, and I wasn't running any other browser. It could theoretically still be IE running in another app, but unlikely. I only have 6 addons installed - so I also doubt it was an exploit of a FF addon. So moral of the story - don't even put your full trust in Firefox :~

                      S Offline
                      S Offline
                      Shog9 0
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #20

                      Ashley van Gerven wrote:

                      temporary internet folder path

                      FWIW, if it was <profile>\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files, then IE had its hand in the matter somewhere. FF uses a different location for its cache / downloads.

                      A 1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • L leppie

                        Henry Minute wrote:

                        I nominate myself as the most insecure browser.

                        Do you get offended easily? Well do you, wimp? ;P

                        xacc.ide - now with TabsToSpaces support
                        IronScheme - 1.0 beta 2 - out now!
                        ((lambda (x) `((lambda (x) ,x) ',x)) '`((lambda (x) ,x) ',x))

                        H Offline
                        H Offline
                        Henry Minute
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #21

                        Stop it, or I'll fetch my mum.

                        Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.”

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • A Ashley van Gerven

                          *EDIT* After Shog's post I investigated and the Avast log shows the warning came from a IE cache folder, not Firefox. So an instance of IE must have been running withing Firefox or within some other malware. It could have been an IE tab within Firefox, although I don't recall switching a tab to IE. Nonetheless I feel really bad for publicly blaming Firefox, just because it seemed the obvious culprit - but I should have looked for proof. BTW I am running IE 7 and up to date with patches - so I'm baffled which security hole was exploited here. Firefox 3.0.6 seems to have a security hole. I guess I was wrong in thinking that the latest version of Firefox is secure enough to prevent malware installing itself on my computer. And on top of that Avast! didn't quite manage to prevent it either. It did give some warning, but didn't prevent 'XP Police' (a fake antivirus proggie) from installing itself and disabling Avast! and disabling Task manager. So from the command line I managed to kill it: taskkill /F /IM xppolice.exe EDIT: Malwarebytes' scanner/fixer seems pretty effective (trial): http://www.download.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html[^] So is Chrome more secure? Or which browser(s) are likely to be the most secure?

                          modified on Friday, February 13, 2009 9:30 PM


                          Last modified: 30hrs 28mins after originally posted --

                          "For fifty bucks I'd put my face in their soup and blow." - George Costanza

                          CP article: SmartPager - a Flickr-style pager control with go-to-page popup layer.

                          M Offline
                          M Offline
                          Member 96
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #22

                          Browser are insecure by nature, it's the user who determines how secure the browser is.


                          "It's so simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and then don't say it." -Sam Levenson

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                          0
                          • Richard Andrew x64R Richard Andrew x64

                            Ashley van Gerven wrote:

                            it's regarded widely as the secure alternative to the exploit-prone IE.

                            Who regards it as the secure alternative to IE? Apparently, only people who fall victim to the myths and propaganda. Take a look at this page, and scroll down to the "Security" section: http://home.comcast.net/~SupportCD/FirefoxMyths.html[^]

                            A Offline
                            A Offline
                            Ashley van Gerven
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #23

                            Interesting, it says Opera is the most secure. I still believe Firefox is more secure than IE though.

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • S Shog9 0

                              Ashley van Gerven wrote:

                              temporary internet folder path

                              FWIW, if it was <profile>\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files, then IE had its hand in the matter somewhere. FF uses a different location for its cache / downloads.

                              A Offline
                              A Offline
                              Ashley van Gerven
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #24

                              You're actually right - I investigated the Avast log and it showed Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5 :~ Now I feel really stupid for blaming Firefox :sigh: Thanks for the tip.

                              1 Reply Last reply
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