Which Browser Is Most Secure? A New Study Reports A Surprise

by Sam Dean - Dec. 12, 2011Comments (5)

Ask some organizations why they bar users from using open source browsers at work, and the IT administrators running the show will say that they don't consider open source browsers to be secure. It's a common refrain. Lots of large organizations don't develop for Android or let employees use the platform for security reasons too. Now, Accuvant, a firm that does security research, is out with results from a new study that find one open source browser to be not so secure, but the interesting thing is that another leading open source browser is found to be the most secure choice of all.

Accuvan'ts study pitted Mozilla Firefox against Google Chrome and Internet Explorer. According to the study's summary:

"We compared browsers from a layered perspective, taking into account security architecture and anti-exploitation techniques. Like antivirus or anti-malware software, each provides an additional layer of defense. The nice thing is, when anti-exploitation technology prevents an attack, anti-malware and antivirus aren't needed. The idea is that it’s a lot easier to keep a fortress with a moat safe than it is to protect a beach shack."

Interestingly, the study found Firefox to be least secure, Internet Explorer to fall in the middle of the pack, and Google Chrome to be the most secure browser of all. The summary reports:

"Firefox is behind when it comes to implementing anti-exploitation technologies. Internet Explorer and Chrome are close, but Chrome’s plug-in security and sandboxing architectures are more thorough and comprehensive. Therefore, Accuvant LABS has deemed Google Chrome to be the most secured against attack."

As always, take these results with a grain of salt. There are many ways to evaluate security. In my own experience, though, Google Chrome's sandboxing and architecture do seem to make it quite secure and it feels like an even more secure choice on the Linux platform.

Check out Accuvant's complete findings and their whitepaper here.

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by an anonymous user on Dec. 12, 2011

"Ask some organizations why they bar users from using open source browsers at work, and the IT administrators running the show will say that they don't consider open source browsers to be secure. It's a common refrain. Lots of large organizations don't develop for Android or let employees use the platform for security reasons too."

Is that even true? The reasons for IE are generally ease of administration, compatibility with internal web apps, and simple inertia. I've never heard any admin say that Firefox or Chrome weren't considered secure. Any objections are just "we don't support that", or "policy doesn't allow additional software installation", but nothing specific about open-source browsers vs. any other third party applications.

And for Android, it's just that it is the new kid on the block and organizations are just figuring out how to handle it.

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by the One on Dec. 12, 2011

It should be noted that Google sponsored this study.

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by an anonymous user on Dec. 13, 2011

Isn't IE the most secure.

The most important way I think to keep your computer safe is keep a good surf habit. That's the most important.

So, no matter which one is the most secure browser, I still insist on using the ones I like most--Avant browser and firefox.

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by an anonymous user on Dec. 13, 2011

Rubbish.

Outdated, doesn't take into account that IE plugs into the OS (Windows 7 in this case) for security not with IE.

Firefox had Flash sandboxed before Google, what Google did first was Out-of-process plugins - a huge architectural difference.

Chrome also misses functionality that disables script-blocking (similar to scripts like google-analystics.com that track user behavior. And is missing Firefox's compartments feature, which is in some cases much more secure than process-isolation.

Funded by Google.

This is laughable. Really? It's secure? Chrome cannot be when it's collects personal information.

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by P Wals on Dec. 14, 2011

Quote: "Therefore, Accuvant LABS has deemed Google Chrome to be the most secured against attack".

Ya, attack from another competitor other than Google the data Goblin ;)

This is bad journalism. PR articles should be clearly marked as such and you know that.

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