Check this out:-

NSS Labs, an independent security testing facility, turned all six browsers loose against a set of 650 malicious URLs. The results are rather alarming for anyone who doesn't use a recent version of Microsoft's Internet Explorer:

•Internet Explorer 9 blocked 92 percent of the malicious links. (IE8 scored at 90 percent.)

•Only 13 percent of malicious links were blocked by Firefox, Chrome, and Safari.

•Opera scored a pathetic 5 percent.

Full Article Here

I never rely upon the browser doing the protection but use additional lines of defense. Bit surprised at the results for IE8 though.

Of course Links is more secure than IE...

Gosh, this will upset the anti-Microsoft crowd.

Gosh, this will upset the anti-Microsoft crowd.

Not really. Nobody who's security conscious uses a vanila version of their chosen browser. I changed all our company computers over to FF with a bunch of security extensions and since then we haven't had any issues with mal or spyware. Before that at least once a month some numpty using the default IE in the office caught some bug and I had to come to the rescue.

Gosh, this will upset the anti-Microsoft crowd.

"Do you trust your web browser to warn you before you stumble into a malicious Web site" No - and that is why I am not using windows online at all. :jap:

edit typo

Edited August 7, 201114 yr by RKASA

That's why I use Avira Premium Antivirus with it's WebGuard. Many times it has blocked me from entering a possible malicious site. Sometimes it gives false alarms, but I would rather be safe than sorry.

Gosh, this will upset the anti-Microsoft crowd.

Nah.

Whenever there's a "security testing facility" that nobody has ever heard of, it's sponsored by Microsoft. They've been doing this for 20 years or more now...

I am not saying they are cheating - but they're probably choosing their tests in a way that IE just happens to win. If you want to remain secure, use Firefox or Chrome, is all I am saying.

it's a bit like those studies that occasionally surface where Windows is more secure than the Mac. Total joke when you consider that there isn't a single Mac botnet, vs. millions of PCs in hundreds of PC botnets... they just figure if they repeat it often enough, some if it will stick at some point.

Edited August 7, 201114 yr by nikster

Old and regurgitated news...

How NSS Labs Tested IE 8's Security

So the president of NSS Labs, Rick Moy, got back to me overnight about the two papers the company issued showing that Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 Web browser is effective at blocking both phishing sites and socially engineered malware. The study was sponsored by Microsoft, which led to a number of reader e-mails declaring it biased from the start.

I wanted to give Moy a chance to respond, and sent him a few questions about the study's methodology; he got back to me last night.

"We can understand that some are shocked and angry about the report results," Moy wrote, adding that the reports documented the test procedures. "The data certainly challenges some long-held beliefs for some. But these are the results of an evenly administered test." The browsers in the two studies, he said, were tested at their default settings, and any adjustments to elements such as JavaScript had no effect on the ultimate test results.

Furthermore, Moy said, the study started as a private test for Microsoft's engineering team, which was seeking to make internal improvements.

Link

Yet other articles claim no sponsorship or funding...

Edited August 9, 201114 yr by Jiu-Jitsu