Firefox Not Perfect
Internet Explorer gets lots of knocks for vulnerabilities, but its main rival,
Firefox, isn't perfect, either. The most recent rev, Firefox 3.0,
has
a hole that could let a hacker run code on your computer. Details haven't
been released, as the Mozilla Project hasn't finished its patch yet.
Redmond Report reader David pointed out that while Firefox may have fewer flaws,
he finds them harder to fix. Here's what Dave had to say:
"I don't care how many patches are released for IE, or how few for
Firefox. I patch Microsoft products with WSUS, which automatically approves
critical and security patches so they install on all the client PCs without
admin or user involvement. Even if the PC is sitting at a log-in prompt, IE
will be patched automatically. And I have an e-mail waiting for me each morning
to notify me of errors or problems.
With Firefox, I'm relying on an update mechanism that cannot be monitored,
and requires user intervention to initiate updates. It's the most administrator-unfriendly
program I've allowed on my network.
I don't have any unpatched instances of IE on my business LAN. I hope
that's true of Firefox, as well, but I have no easy way of knowing. It only
takes one unpatched vulnerability, so unless Firefox can assure me that it'll
never require even a single security patch, I'm at much greater risk from
Firefox than I ever will be from IE. As a user, I'd probably prefer Firefox,
but not from the admin standpoint."
Posted by Doug Barney on June 23, 2008