No,I do not think that Internet Explorer is secure for browsing. Not if it is compared to other browsers, like Firefox or Google Chrome, or Safefox or Wyzo. Which are Firefox clones based on Firefox and alternative versions of it. And they also have additional security features that the original Firefox does not have.

I am not saying that you would get a virus if you use IE or even IE6 or IE7 the older versions of IE. But the risk is there, as Internet Explorer is a very basic browser, and does not have the advanced features of other browsers. IE is also not a very good browser anyway. Internet Explorer is a backward browser in terms of computer software. It is very slow,crashes and freezes a lot. And I cannot tell one version of IE from another. All IEs,IE6,IE7 and 8 look alike to me. Except for IE9 that looks different but is no better than the other IEs.

And I was not surprised to read that Safari is not secure for browsing either.I have tried that too,and the problem with Safari is. That it also instals a lot of unwanted software,it installs,Quick Time player,I Tunes and other items most people do not want. When we only just want the browser. And Safari is quite slow anyway. Not a good browser.

If you do want a secure browser do get Chromium,Google Chrome or Firefox alternatives,Safefox,Pale Moon,Wyzo or even Commet Bird.All are excellent browsers for Windows and VERY SECURE. Andrea Borman.

Tygrus. You are spot on. Microsoft work on the basis of security by obscurity or, if that fails, security by making your system unusable. Vista UAC being a great example. Paying a company to give them good write-ups is only the tip of the ice berg with MS. I never bought Vista, but I still want to know why Micro shaft is not offering Windows 7 to everyone who did for free by way of an apology.

Let’s face it, if you wanted to write an application specifically designed to download viruses and Malware from the internet it’s behaviour and functionally would not be too dissimilar to Internet Explorer.

But Muhammad Imran, as you love IE so much carry on using it. Nobody cares that your irrational Microsoft fan boy bevavious will one day render your computer beyond use due to the prolific infestation of all manner of viruses and malware! Fill your boots!

If you turned on (or maximised) the security settings with IE8, many valid sites become unusable or very s l o w.

Hey, my old laptop is very secure .. no USB, no wifi, no network, no internet, no floppies .. no fun, no work.

Microsoft's idea of security is to unintelligently annoy the user so much that they turn the security off. Then MS blames the users for any perceived security problem.

When FF bashes other it angelic why dont someone reveal their own hypocrisies. Firefox is consumption of granny type people who open 5-10 tabs atmost. Its also so Hippocratic of them against IE. When u install FF3.5 it asks for making it default, you say NO. after install, on first startup this product of Hippocrates again asks for it and keeps default focus on yes to take advantage of deception that user think it already told it for NO and this message would be something else. then this macho FF crashes facedown when u r downloading virus infected file. the AV kills the file bit FF3.5 somehow keeps clinging to the file and crashes down. FF3.5 page scrolling is pathetic. The jitters it give makes page unreadable while keyboard (down key) scroll. IE and Opera but give smooth scroll through keyboard scroll keys. IE and Opera are killer combination right now. IE for corporate applications and environment. while opera for surf hounds and downloaders.

LOL @ the first line: "Internet Exploder"!

I don't think I'd ever use a browser called Internet Exploder, no matter how "safe" it was!

Did the article mention that they tested IE8 against Firefox 3.0 instead of 3.5. Isn't that strange?

"As The Inq is taken seriously with regard to computer news..."

Thx, I needed the laugh.

So, social enginnering and fake sites are real treats now?

If you aren't able to tell if an utl is real or not, and you also like downloading software you don't know about, then no kind of protection can save you.

-- The REAL threats are broswer exploits and drive by downloads. Aka flaws in the broswer that allow a site to download a (malicious) executable file in your computer and run it. This can mess up your whole computer just by visiting a page. Things get complicated as ads and scripts of a page may come from different sources, so telling which site is malicious and which not can be a little bit difficult. The only cure is to be shielded against those threats (and block them if possible).

- And, guess what! IE has a long, long history though the last years of being tricked by malicious sites so they 'll execute malicious software in your PC, just by visitng their index page.

Truth be said, hackers find it more difficult to exploit firefox. And also, it's patches don't take an eternity to install. It's 1-2-3 seconds, done!! In IE, it takes ages.

Now, dont get me to the point of IE toolbars: once you get one on, you 'll never get it off

yeah right USER

ive repaired many computers for all the same problems that were using firefox or any other browser. the problems doesnt lie with IE the problems are with users, i couldnt tell you how many computers ive repaired and asked what anti-virus they used and reply was usually nortons or mcafee thats what came with their Dell, HP,or compaq etc. etc. 7 years ago not realizing it was only a trial, and yes many of those people use IE since it came with their computer, they dont know how to properly set up or utilize their browsers, e-mail or other programs. I've used IE since i could remember and never ever had any problems with it and IE8 is even better than ever.

Safari is really bad from the security point of view i can confirm this. I suggest you avoid Safari

Clearly browser security and hackability has nothing to with blocking phishing sites.
Everybody knows that IE is the only browser that lets hackers take over the whole system, and thats the main threat.
The fact some NSS lab monkey even called serious companies to bug for penny is so hillarious, its like those idiots don't even have any shame, and they beg for money even from open source developers, such a scam idea!
I guess community has to start creating lists of companies we don't trust, and NSS Labs would be no.1 in the list.
Who needs stupid paid asslickers these days?!

Hi I read your article and as an sold user on Firefox here is what I find when i compare IE with Firefox.
1. Using a subscriber (Timewarner(RoadRunner)& AOL Both have by design between 120-140 items that are downloaded as a result of connecting via the subscriber/login webpage.
2. Many people who call me to fix their computer due to Spam or Virus I find rely on and use Internet Explorer.
3. When I delete all Spam or Vurses I then ask the client to restart IE and Login. To Their surprise ALL the Spam that was previously deleted is BAck.
4. After I delete all the Spam & viruses again, I install and ask the client to run Firefox. I then follow it with same Spam and Virus Checking Software, (Ad-Aware (NOT ADWARE), AVG, SpyBot and McAfee Stinger. I ask the client to run the Firefox Browser and then run the Spam & Virus SW. Either nothing is found or 1or 2 Spam are found.
5. People will ask me why do get all these ads to buy stuff I am interested in. My explanation--"Keep this in Mind.- When you move your cursor across the webpage as long as the Cursor is a 'pointer' and not a HAND you are safe. Once you have a hand displayed, the Vendors page is locked to your computer waiting for you to click the Mouse. Once you click, Any related Vendor grabs your Click data and Sells it, and now they have validation of what you are interested in. One Doctor was willing to pay me each day to spend 2 hours removing Spam & Virus as he refused to Use Firefox and not Internet Explorer. I stopped servicing his computer.

Roger

If the results are valid, and can be duplicated by other test organizations, it doesn't matter who paid for it.

The real deciding factor is do the tests actually test what they're supposed to (validity), were they conducted properly, and are the tests truly reflective of real world security issues.

Since ActiveX is still a part of all versions of IE, there's just no way browsers without ActiveX are less secure overall.

All this reminds me of a situation my college statistics professor posed to the class of mostly 18yo males: two attractive females with an average age of ~20 years needed dates. We, of course, all said yes we'd be agreeable. That was untill he revealed their actual ages as 6 months old and 40 years old. The arithmetic average of .5 and 40 years is 20.25 years. And that is an average age of ~20 years for the pair.

You have to know and study the details. Conclusions alone are worthless without the supporting data. But so often we just accept conclusions as if they are some kind of Holy Law.

Sadly most people never read the details, and only skim read information like headlines. As The Inq is taken seriously with regard to computer news, and will be aggregated into other Internet news sites, people who do not understand the underlying information will just read 'IE is the most secure browser'. Then they repeat it when told that they would be safer with an alternative browser as part of a holistic home computer security plan.

Time better spent on security education is wasted trying to help them understand that the report only covered one aspect of browser security. All due to one unfortunately worded article headline.

Loaded headlines like this should be avoided along with the 'Have you stopped beating your wife?' questions, as divisive and unhelpful. Have you stopped beating your wife?

SB

One doesn't bite the hand that feeds one,does one?
Also,"He who pays the piper,calls the tune".

yea WTF is right, Most firefox users are running with pop up blocker, Noscript, Web of trust, Flashblock.

this article is all bs

SB

"While I like reading The Inq, your headline will be misused by less informed media to give Microsoft the positive publicity they have been seeking by way of paying for the report."

Why are some people in this world that thick headed? Clearly the author of this report did not mean for anyone to take in the headline literally since he did include "Says Microsoft commissioned report". Did you completely miss that part?

Having read the NSS Labs report, to claim IE is the most secure browser in the headline is most irresponsible.

The report compared the ability of a browser's ability to stop malware threats / bad URLs by way of inline security filtering. It did not conclude if the exploit would have succeeded, detail the security settings used for each browser and if the user was running as a non-admin. Each of these factors combined with defence in depth using Anti Virus software and a timely patching schedule would give a very different outcome.

While I like reading The Inq, your headline will be misused by less informed media to give Microsoft the positive publicity they have been seeking by way of paying for the report.

It should read 'IE 8 is more secure than IE 7 but Firefox combined with a home computer policy like the example documents offered by the Secure IT Foundation would give a better overall home security package'. Not so catchy but closer to the truth.

SB
www.secureitfoundation.org

ooohhh... mircosoft says microsoft is the best!?

that report is really worth its weight in dog-logs isnt it!