Firefox the Most Vulnerable Browser

It seems quite surprising to me to learn about this. After all, didn’t Firefox try to market itself as the safer, more secure alternative to browse the web than Microsoft Internet Explorer? Furthermore, considering that hackers tend to focus their exploit efforts on the most popular web browser for maximum impact, and Microsoft Internet Explorer still takes top place in the browser market share, you wouldn’t expect Firefox to take the number one spot for being most vulnerable.

But according to the Web Application Security Trend Report (Q1-Q2 2009) by Cenzic, the numbers do show Firefox taking the lead with vulnerability to 44% of 3100 exploits tracked. Microsoft Internet Explorer came in at 15%. Safari scored surprisingly badly too at 35%, but this was explained by the new inclusion of iPhone and iPod Touch web browsers under the category of Safari in this report. (In the previous report for Q3-Q4 2008, Safari came in at 8%, Firefox at 39% and Microsoft Internet Explorer at 43%).)

Now, I’d be thinking twice when Firefox says it’s the safest way to surf the web. I don’t know where Safari stands when the numbers for iPhones and iPod Touches are omitted, but it does seem ironical to be telling users now that Microsoft Internet Explorer is probably the way to go if you care about your security.