Microsoft says Firefox not a threat to IE
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Just days after the launch of open-source browser Firefox 1.0, Microsoft executives defended Internet Explorer, saying it is no less secure than any other browser and doesn&#39;t lack any important features.
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Floor by flaw The latest versions of Internet Explorer and Firefox on Windows and (in the case of Firefox) Unix systems are vulnerable to attacks that could reveal the contents of sensitive files residing on a victim's hard drives.â¦
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BetaNews has an interview with Microsoft&#39;s Gary Schare, which includes some discussion about Mozilla Firefox. The Director of Windows Product Management says that Microsoft is looking towards its browser add
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A spokesman for Germany's Federal Office for Information Security has said users should consider alternatives to Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser, but it didn't recommend that they steer clear of Microsoft products.
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Â Microsoft is investigating reports of a serious security flaw in Internet Explorer (IE), but has not yet seen malicious code that exploits the reported flaw, the company said Thursday.
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Firefox has emerged as the first browser in years to seriously challenge Internet Explorerâwith good reason. Firefox has superior security and anti-scumware features, it works on Windows, Linux, MacOS X and other operating systems, and it&#39;s free.
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(InfoWorld) - A security researcher has found a security bug that could be attacked in Internet Explorer. Mozilla said it plans to patch the problem in its next Firefox software update. No, that's not a typo, just the strange fall-out from an unusual bug that had security researchers debating the question this week, "Who's to blame? Microsoft or Mozilla?" Security researcher Thor LarholmÂ kicked off the controversy on Tuesday, claiming that he had discovered a flaw that would let an attacker run commands on a victim's PC. In his blog posting, Larholm said the bug was similar to a flaw he'd discovered last month in Apple's Safari 3.0 beta software, and he called it an an "input validation flaw in Internet Explorer." The problem is with a URL protocol handler component of Internet Explorer, he said. This software allows Internet Explorer users to launch applications such as Excel or Firefox by clicking on specially written links on Web pages. When Internet Explorer clicks on a link that launches the Firefox browser, however, the software does not properly check its syntax, and that, Larholm said, lets an attacker create a malicious link, that could be used in an attack. Security vendor Secunia ApS rates the flaw as "highly critical." So while the flaw affects Internet Explorer users, it appears to be a risk only to those who already have Firefox installed. And to make matters more complicated, if a Firefox user were to click on one of the specially written links, he would not be affected. Still, Microsoft Security Program Manager Mark Griesi said that the bug was not his company's problem. "We don't feel that there's an issue in IE and therefore there's nothing to be fixed," he said Tuesday. With Microsoft saying it won't fix the vulnerability, Mozilla said it would change the way its Firefox URL protocol handler worked in its next Firefox update. That will fix Larholm's bug, but Mozilla security strategist Window Snyder wouldn't say whether or not she considered the vulnerability to be an IE or Firefox problem. She did, however, point out that without Microsoft making changes to IE, other Windows programs may be at risk. Noted browser bug-hunter Aviv Raff wrote in his blog that he thought both Microsoft and Mozilla were to blame. But another security expert said that the responsibility to fix the problem lies with the open-source browser developers. "This is an oversight in how Mozilla decided to construct their protocol registration, and how they do input validation between this handler and their application," said Eric Schultze, chief security architect with Shavlik Technologies, via e-mail. "I think Mozilla needs to write and release a patch for this issue and Microsoft can take the week off."
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Mozilla will patch Firefox but Microsoft won't update IE--and each points fingers for the problem.
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A REPORT last week said that Microsoft will not build the latest security features in Windows XP browser and expects customers to upgrade to the OS from previous software to gain prophylactic protection.
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(InfoWorld) - In a public mea culpa, Mozilla's chief security officer acknowledged Monday that Firefox includes the same flaw that the company called a "critical vulnerability" in Internet Explorer during a two-week ruckus over responsibility for a Windows zero-day bug. "Over the weekend, we learned about a new scenario that identifies ways that Firefox could also be used as the entry point," said Window Snyder of Mozilla. "While browsing with Firefox, a specially crafted URL could potentially be used to send bad data to another application. "We thought this was just a problem with Internet Explorer," Snyder continued. "It turns out, it is a problem with Firefox as well." The argument over responsibility for a flaw that involved both Internet Explorer and Firefox began two weeks ago when Danish researcher Thor Larholm argued that Internet Explorer contained an input validation bug that passes potentially malicious URLs to other applications. Larholm called out Firefox's "firefoxurl://" protocol as one that Internet Explorer mishandled. He staked out the position that Internet Explorer was to blame, while other security experts said it was Firefox's fault. As fingers pointed, Mozilla patched the Internet Explorer-Firefox interaction bug by releasing an update, Version 2.0.0.5. Even so, Snyder and others continued to argue that Internet Explorer was the problem. "Microsoft needs to patch Internet Explorer," Snyder said last Wednesday. That same day, Asa Dotzler, director of community development, contrasted what he said were the differences between Microsoft and Mozilla on the bug. "We think it's Firefox's job to ensure that users are protected from malicious Web sites when they're surfing the Web in Firefox. Apparently, Microsoft doesn't think the same for Internet Explorer," Dotzler said then. Friday, Jesper Johansson, a former Microsoft security strategist but now a security program manager at Amazon.com, spelled out how Firefox was as guilty as Internet Explorer of failing to validate input. In a post that leaned on the metaphor of "glass houses," Johansson showed how Firefox passes potentially malicious URLs to other applications, including the multiple-service instant messaging client Trillian. "Firefox is subject to the exact same flaw that they blame on Internet Explorer. Firefox also does not escape quotes in URLs before it passes them on to protocol handlers," he said. Snyder did not credit Johansson by name for alerting Mozilla to the Firefox bug, but she admitted that the flaw should have been spotted. "We should have caught this scenario when we fixed the related problem in 2.0.0.5," she said. She did not specify when a patch would be issued, but one is in the works, according to an entry in Bugzilla.
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U.S. prosecutors say Microsoft appears to have addressed all of the concerns raised about the new Windows and Internet Explorer 7.
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Opinion: Internet Explorer is insecure junk, and it&#39;s time for Windows users to move to Firefox if they want to protect their systems.
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Just because Firefox is free and open source doesn&#39;t mean developers aren&#39;t cashing in on the popularity of the Mozilla Foundation&#39;s new browser.
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Microsoft&#39;s Internet Explorer is the default Web browser for Windows users, but it may not be the best choice for your organization.
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Mozilla Firefox is the Web browser you have been waiting for as an alternative to Microsoftâs Internet Explorer. If you are fed up with security warnings, virus threats and endless security patches from Microsoft, then switch to Firefox - now.
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Q: I&#39;ve been reading a lot about the security problems of Internet Explorer. Would I be safer using an alternative browser, and if so, which one&#39;s best?
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The success of alternative browsers such as Mozilla Foundation&#39;s Firefox may ultimately have an unexpected side effect, causing Microsoft to be more aggressive in leveraging its dominance of Internet client software, said Marc Andreessen, one of the