Browser Security News

Taking a page from Microsoft’s playbook for Internet Explorer, Google wants to get its Chrome browser preinstalled on new computers. Chrome’s market share on PCs is currently less than one percent vs 70 percent for IE and 20 percent for Firefox. Google plans a major marketing drive when the beta stage ends in January.

Mozilla has advised Firefox users not to try add-ons classed as ‘experimental’, such as the recently released China Channel, because they could cause computer problems. Firefox add-ons allow users to personalise their browsing and add additional features. Because Firefox is open source, many of these add-ons are created by third-party developers.

Security exploits still target browser vulnerabilities, but attacks on browser plug-ins and vulnerable third-party controls such as Flash and Acrobat are becoming more common. That means Firefox users need to be as cautious as users of Internet Explorer.

Google Inc. has patched Chrome to prevent attackers from stealing files from PCs running the open-source browser. The update, however, has not been pushed out to most users yet. Google quashed the bug in a developer-only version of Chrome that has not been sent to all users via the browser’s update mechanism.

Apple yesterday added anti-phishing protection to Safari, the last major browser to receive the feature that blocks known identity-stealing sites. The company also patched 11 security bugs in the program, the bulk of them specific to the Microsoft Windows version.

On Thursday, Apple released Safari 3.2. Although the update affects both Mac and Windows users, many of the Mac updates were provided in Apple’s October update for Mac OS X users. The update includes eight fixes specific to Safari and three specific to Webkit.

Mozilla on Wednesday patched 11 vulnerabilities in Firefox 3.0 — and 12 bugs in the older Firefox 2.0 — that could be used to compromise computers and steal information. Wednesday’s update patched virtually the same number of vulnerabilities as the last security upgrade seven weeks ago .

Mozilla pushed out the first beta of Firefox 3.1 on Tuesday night but the release omits some much anticipated improved JavaScript functionality. The preview edition of the open source web browser is intended to allow developers to run a slide rule over the software as well as giving the public at large a chance to […]

It all began with WorldWideWeb. Not the vast smorgasbord that is cyberspace, but the basic browser that was developed, in 1991, by Brit scientist Sir Tim Berners-lee. It was renamed nexus to avoid confusion with the World Wide Web. Much data has since flowed under the bridge and users are now spoilt for choice.

While operating-system attacks are decreasing, attacks on applications are rising along with malware and unwanted software, according to the Microsoft Security Intelligence Report. Microsoft said 30 percent of the malware was Trojan-based, and China accounted for 50 percent of browser based attacks, while the U.S. was second at 23 percent.