1.02 is out. Its a security update that fixes one major flaw and a few smaller ones.
Zdnet article about the update
Download Firefox 1.02 from mozilla.org
Is there anyone that is regularly in this forum that hasn't at least tried firefox?
New Firefox is released
Moderator: ElTaco
FYI- Hackers now specifically targeting Mozilla/Firefox users:
PC World.com
Number of recent documented Firefox vulnerabilities higher than for IE browser, company says.
Jaikumar Vijayan, Computerworld
Monday, March 21, 2005
The growing popularity of Mozilla-based Web browsers appears to be attracting the attention of the malicious hacking community.
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Between July 1, 2004, and Dec. 31, 2004, the number of documented vulnerabilities affecting the Mozilla browser and the Mozilla Foundation's Firefox browser was higher than the number of vulnerabilities affecting Microsoft's Internet Explorer, according to the latest Internet Security Threat Report from Symantec released Monday.
The report, which provides an update of Internet threat activity worldwide every six months, noted 13 vulnerabilities affecting IE. That compared with 21 vulnerabilities affecting the Mozilla and Mozilla Firefox browsers during the survey period.
IE, however, still had a higher proportion of serious vulnerabilities, with 9 of the 13 flaws rated as highly severe. By comparison, 11 of the 21 Mozilla browser flaws were deemed highly severe, and just 7 of the Firefox flaws were seen as highly severe. The IE flaws also took longer to fix--an average of 43 days, compared with 26 days for Mozilla browsers.
Drawing Attention
"We are starting to see Firefox and Mozilla get more attention from attackers, and that is likely to continue," says Alfred Huger, senior director of engineering at Symantec. "People who are writing Trojans and worms that get distributed via Web browser vulnerabilities are looking for the highest yield."
Traditionally, IE has been the most targeted browser because of its widespread use, but that could begin to change as Mozilla browsers gain popularity, he says. Since 1997, Symantec has documented 313 vulnerabilities for IE, and fewer than 100 for Mozilla browsers.
Symantec's study, based on information gathered from over 20,000 sensors deployed on customer networks in 180 countries, also noted a continuing rise in the number of new vulnerabilities discovered. Between July 1 and December 31, 2004, Symantec documented 1403 new vulnerabilities--13 percent more than the 1237 vulnerabilities found in the first six months of 2004. Out of these, nearly half--or 670 flaws--affected Web-connected applications, a 39 percent increase over the first six months of 2004.
Nearly 97 percent of the newly discovered flaws were rated as being of moderate to high severity, while 70 percent were reported as being easy to exploit.
In a break from recent trends however, malicious attackers also appeared to be taking more time to exploit new vulnerabilities. In the latest study, the time it took hackers to exploit new flaws rose on average to 6.4 days, compared with 5.8 days previously.
PC World.com
Number of recent documented Firefox vulnerabilities higher than for IE browser, company says.
Jaikumar Vijayan, Computerworld
Monday, March 21, 2005
The growing popularity of Mozilla-based Web browsers appears to be attracting the attention of the malicious hacking community.
Advertisement
Between July 1, 2004, and Dec. 31, 2004, the number of documented vulnerabilities affecting the Mozilla browser and the Mozilla Foundation's Firefox browser was higher than the number of vulnerabilities affecting Microsoft's Internet Explorer, according to the latest Internet Security Threat Report from Symantec released Monday.
The report, which provides an update of Internet threat activity worldwide every six months, noted 13 vulnerabilities affecting IE. That compared with 21 vulnerabilities affecting the Mozilla and Mozilla Firefox browsers during the survey period.
IE, however, still had a higher proportion of serious vulnerabilities, with 9 of the 13 flaws rated as highly severe. By comparison, 11 of the 21 Mozilla browser flaws were deemed highly severe, and just 7 of the Firefox flaws were seen as highly severe. The IE flaws also took longer to fix--an average of 43 days, compared with 26 days for Mozilla browsers.
Drawing Attention
"We are starting to see Firefox and Mozilla get more attention from attackers, and that is likely to continue," says Alfred Huger, senior director of engineering at Symantec. "People who are writing Trojans and worms that get distributed via Web browser vulnerabilities are looking for the highest yield."
Traditionally, IE has been the most targeted browser because of its widespread use, but that could begin to change as Mozilla browsers gain popularity, he says. Since 1997, Symantec has documented 313 vulnerabilities for IE, and fewer than 100 for Mozilla browsers.
Symantec's study, based on information gathered from over 20,000 sensors deployed on customer networks in 180 countries, also noted a continuing rise in the number of new vulnerabilities discovered. Between July 1 and December 31, 2004, Symantec documented 1403 new vulnerabilities--13 percent more than the 1237 vulnerabilities found in the first six months of 2004. Out of these, nearly half--or 670 flaws--affected Web-connected applications, a 39 percent increase over the first six months of 2004.
Nearly 97 percent of the newly discovered flaws were rated as being of moderate to high severity, while 70 percent were reported as being easy to exploit.
In a break from recent trends however, malicious attackers also appeared to be taking more time to exploit new vulnerabilities. In the latest study, the time it took hackers to exploit new flaws rose on average to 6.4 days, compared with 5.8 days previously.
Part of the reason the number of documented vulnerabilities for Firefox is higher is the fact that it's open source so there's more disclosure. Microsoft doesn't disclose vulnerabilities until they are fixed, which can take months. The Mozilla team seems to do a far better job of putting out patches in a timely fashion.
Having said that, I've been wary of people thinking that changing browsers would be enough to make them secure. Most of the viruses and spyware that infect computers get on there because the user clicked something they shouldn't have, or didn't pay attention to where they were surfing and they got hijacked. Firefox does a better job of protecting people from these attacks, but it's still obvious that habits need to change as well.
Having said that, I've been wary of people thinking that changing browsers would be enough to make them secure. Most of the viruses and spyware that infect computers get on there because the user clicked something they shouldn't have, or didn't pay attention to where they were surfing and they got hijacked. Firefox does a better job of protecting people from these attacks, but it's still obvious that habits need to change as well.
All software projects have flaws and vulnerabilities.
The value of open source software is that fixes are more rapid than with proprietary software.
It's not that IE sucks or something...it's pretty good, and when vulnerabilites are discovered, they have been great at issuing patches of late.
The value of open source software is that fixes are more rapid than with proprietary software.
It's not that IE sucks or something...it's pretty good, and when vulnerabilites are discovered, they have been great at issuing patches of late.
Your point is valid, though...whatever gets used by a lot of people will be targeted. Recently, Macs have been targeted more, as well.IE, however, still had a higher proportion of serious vulnerabilities, with 9 of the 13 flaws rated as highly severe. By comparison, 11 of the 21 Mozilla browser flaws were deemed highly severe, and just 7 of the Firefox flaws were seen as highly severe. The IE flaws also took longer to fix--an average of 43 days, compared with 26 days for Mozilla browsers.
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ElTaco
- Networking Securely
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If anything, this will be an interesting test for Open source. Until now MS and co have always maintained that their problems are so high purely based on the fact that most people use their products and so hackers ignore everyone else.
Now that things will be on a more equal footing, we'll see what open source can do.
I still maintain that I'm safer purely because I don't get hardly any spyware shit on here and I would with IE but MS/other products can fix that problem too so we'll see.
Now that things will be on a more equal footing, we'll see what open source can do.
I still maintain that I'm safer purely because I don't get hardly any spyware shit on here and I would with IE but MS/other products can fix that problem too so we'll see.
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Shlomart Ben Yisrael
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Firefox's superiority is in that fact that it doesn't use ActiveX control.
The open source vulnerability angle is utter bullshit, and a bad MS propaganda hack job.
IE = shit
The open source vulnerability angle is utter bullshit, and a bad MS propaganda hack job.
IE = shit
rock rock to the planet rock ... don't stop
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Why don’t you just STFU.
very,very well said donovan.Donovan wrote:Part of the reason the number of documented vulnerabilities for Firefox is higher is the fact that it's open source so there's more disclosure. Microsoft doesn't disclose vulnerabilities until they are fixed, which can take months. The Mozilla team seems to do a far better job of putting out patches in a timely fashion.
Having said that, I've been wary of people thinking that changing browsers would be enough to make them secure. Most of the viruses and spyware that infect computers get on there because the user clicked something they shouldn't have, or didn't pay attention to where they were surfing and they got hijacked. Firefox does a better job of protecting people from these attacks, but it's still obvious that habits need to change as well.