Do Not Underestimate Internet Explorer...?

Some days ago, there have been many reports on famous tech sites that an anti-phishing test had been conducted by NSS Labs on the famous browsers, and Internet Explorer tied with Firefox as the 'surprise' winner, with Apple Safari performing the worst.

Here is the report as detailed by Anthony Barboza of Neowin:
===================================================================

NSS Labs, an independent security research group, found that Internet Explorer 8 was the best browser tested at thwarting phishing attempts. Firefox was statistically tied with IE for first with Opera and Chrome bringing up the rear. Safari was the real loser of the group with only 2% of phishing attempts blocked and there was no difference between the Mac or Windows client.

Phishing is a way in which a hacker lures an unsuspecting person into giving away their credentials or personal information by using a website that appears to be legitimate. This fraud has been growing over the past several years and novices are at risk more now than ever. The interesting statistic from the tests is that phishing sites have an average life of only 52 hours, making it extremely difficult to block or stop these sites.

The study used several thousands of malicious pages over the course of July and also timed how long it took for each browser to add the page to a black list. Internet Explorer took an average of just under five hours, with Firefox not far behind. Again Safari lagged behind taking over 54 hours to block a hazardous site.

NSS Labs has a full PDF file detailing the entire testing process and their results.

Thanks to The Patri0t for the tip!

====================================================================

Internet Explorer & Firefox: The Best Antiphishing Browsers based on NSS Labs's test

I was honestly surprised by the results, as lots of computer geeks including me were spreading the knowledge to everyone else on how Mozilla Firefox is the safest browser yet, and Internet Explorer is just a slower, buggier browser with more security flaws. Maybe one can question the methodology that NSS Labs used on evaluating the anti-phishing capability of browsers, but then again it seemed obvious that we are so ignorant that we must have underestimated Internet Explorer a bit too much all these times...

Internet Explorer might be a poorly-performing browser back then during the IE5-IE6 era (i do not know exactly how for certain, as my real computer-geeking career had not yet started during those times), but i do have some positive regards for IE8, which in my opinion, has handed out lots of control over to the users and is pretty faster than its older version, IE7. In terms of safety, i believe we must have forgotten the fact that IE is a browser that is constantly under exploit. When Microsoft has a browser that is constantly under security threats by outsiders, surely they would have try at least something to make their browser more and more secure. Which is the most logical explanation why they can come out on top in the anti-phishing test. Microsoft issued patches after patches on their browsers and even knew of many of its security holes' existence prior to them being exploited. That actually explained how much Microsoft researched on security issues with their browsers and its no more a surprise that they could have performed well on that particular anti-phishing test.

Market Share of August on the current Browser War

Meanwhile, it is also interesting to note that Internet Explorer currently still holds the largest market share of web browsers worldwide, despite losing market share steadily over the past months to Firefox, Safari & Chrome. Naturally, any security problem from Microsoft would be put under massive spotlight, as it had the most users out there. I still remember the day when Firefox is the new kid on the block, when people are praising it for its security & very little news report about security issues had ever surfaced regarding Firefox. Times have changed; as Firefox closed upon the 25% browser market share mark, more and more of their security exploits news are being reported over tech sites, which does not generate any positive publicity in that case. Firefox may be quicker than Microsoft to react towards fixing their security holes, but based on the gradually increasing reports, isn't Firefox now starting to fall under the same pressure as Internet Explorer had always been?


Sarcastically for Apple, Safari is performing very badly in the test, and to me it's no wonder why. Compared to Microsoft, Apple has had less exploit attempts due to its smaller user base, which does not make them a more profitable target for phishing attacks. Apple users are always claiming about how safe their Safari Browser was and it's true to some sense (nobody even tried their best to exploit the browser!). From a technical point of view though, the meager 2% detection rate for the anti-phishing test is a clear picture of how Apple had never even attempted a serious job of securing their browser. That, in my opinion, is just pure ignorance and rightly deserve the bottom spot. Apple can call their browser's 'security' superior than IE whenever they like, but then this light-hearted behavior would never earn them more market share because once they close in at the level Firefox and IE currently is, Apple will definitely be forced to look into their browser's security!

Moral of the story: We should not underestimate Internet Explorer, or any other of the browsers currently in the battle for market shares. Internet Explorer may be that slower than other existing browsers; it may be that less secure than others due to more exploit attempts, but then they are battle-hardened with all these challenges and will definitely fight back at any time!