Internet Explorer the safest browser – yeah right!

Microsoft has always bigged up their products using whatever mechanisms they can, including paid-for campaigns/ads and sometimes outright lying. The latest statement that IE is the most secure browser ( according to their yourbrowsermatters website ) fits into this latter category.

One has to wonder how Microsoft comes about the scores provided on the site. Thumb suck I say. Where does the outright lying come into play? Well apparently my browser benefits from Windows Operating System features that randomize the memory layout to make it harder for attackers to find their target. And my browser benefits from Windows Operating System features that protect against structured exception handling overwrite attacks.

The only problem with the above 2 statements is that I don’t run Windows …

One also has to wonder how IE is given the most secure browser moniker when it’s just had a major patch released to fix what’s regarded by anyone as a serious flaw ( The most severe vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a user views a specially crafted Web page using Internet Explorer. An attacker who successfully exploited any of these vulnerabilities could gain the same user rights as the local user ).

So when vendors trot out that “we’re the most secure” malarky, take it with a pinch of salt. Mind you, maybe a whole jar will be better.