Firefox barely affected by spyware

Posted on Monday, February 13 2006 @ 1:35 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck

Researchers report that in side-by-side tests of Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Mozilla's Firefox, Firefox proved to be far less vulnerable to spyware infections.

Most spyware uses JavaScript or ActiveX exploits that leverage IE vulnerabilities to plant spyware.

"We can't say whether Firefox is a safer browser or not," said Henry Levy, one of the two University of Washington professors who, along with a pair of graduate students, created Web crawlers to scour the Internet for spyware in several 2005 forays. "But we can say that users will have a safer experience [surfing] with Firefox."

But the researchers won't say which of the two browsers is the safest. The reason for this is because they used the unpatched versions of both browsers, because they were trying to understand the number of spyware threats.

More details about ths research can be read here.

About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.

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Re: Firefox barely affected by spyware
by Anonymous on Monday, February 13 2006 @ 5:48 CET

Uh...what's the difference between a safer experience and a safer browser? The two would go hand in hand I would think. Oh sure, one could gage the metric of how easily it is to technically exploit something but I imagine the point's moot when a culture of crackers isn't chasing a technology.

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