MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER OR INDEPENDENT BROWSER – WHICH IS SAFER?

For years the conventional wisdom has held that Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) was not as safe from intrusion, hackers, keyloggers, or malware, than independently produced browsers such as Apple’s Safari or Mozilla’s Firefox. This axiom has been true for years, however we need to reassess the validity of this assumption given current developments.

Hackers prefer to write code that will cause the greatest harm or provide them with the greatest ill-gotten gains. Hackers and identity thieves have concentrated on Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, not because of inherent flaws, but rather because it was the most widely used browser technology. A week spent designing successful malware for IE would result in millions and millions of successful attacks. Time spent on formerly tiny Mozilla FireFox would gain only a few hundred thousand successes.

However with the growing popularity of independent browsers, and the increasing security efforts of Microsoft, these conclusions may not be valid. A leading internet security company recently reported that for the first time the number of known significant security risks was slightly greater for independent browsers.

We do not recommend changing browsers. We do recommend that you reconsider any assumptions about your browser based of traditional views of security.