[LINK] Firefox users shown to be safer

[Marghanita da Cruz]

David Boxall wrote:
> <http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2220991/firefox-users-shown-safer>
> 
> "A new study has shown Firefox users are the most likely to have fully 
> patched browsers and thus be safer online.
> 
> The 18 month study, by researchers at the Swiss Computer Engineering and 
> Networks Laboratory, IBM and Google, found that 83.3 per cent of Firefox 
> users, 65.3 per cent of Safari users, 56.1 per cent of Opera users, and 
> 47.6 per cent of Internet Explorer (IE) users were using fully patched 
> browsers."
> 
> 

Before we fall out of our trees about this "ground" breaking research. Circa 
2004, I attended a talk which said that firefox was also addressing its 
vulnerabilities more quickly than IE. Google revealed this article:
> The reports suggest that surfers using Mozilla's Firefox browser enjoyed the shortest "exposure period", where a patch for known vulnerabilities in the browser was unavailable. By comparison, Internet Explorer users were fully protected for just one measly week in the whole twelve-month period - between 12 and 19 October 2004.
http://www.theinquirer.net/en/inquirer/news/2005/03/22/firefox-users-better-protected-than--internet-explorer-users

To put this into context, other than on the ASUS EeePC I have seen little 
reference to viruses in the Linux environment. Given all of these benefits the 
world still flocks to Microsoft products. Websites still needs to work with IE 
in preference to standards.

Bill Gates:How A Geek Changed The World on SBS at 20:30 tonight, should make 
interesting viewing.

Marghanita
-- 
Marghanita da Cruz
http://www.ramin.com.au
Phone: (+61)0414 869202