Which is the Most Secure Web Browser?

Discussion in 'other security issues & news' started by Rafales, Jan 11, 2015.

  1. Rafales

    Rafales Registered Member

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  2. ghodgson

    ghodgson Registered Member

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    Thanks for this. Just downloading Aviator to give it a try.
     
  3. guest

    guest Guest

    Oh not Iron again... :argh:
     
  4. rookieman

    rookieman Registered Member

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    Never heard of Aviator before :doubt:
     
  5. guest

    guest Guest

    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 11, 2015
  6. noone_particular

    noone_particular Registered Member

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    If there was ever a question where the term "secure" needed to be clearly defined and who or what it's supposed to be secure against, this is it.
     
  7. Minimalist

    Minimalist Registered Member

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    Yes I agree. There's a lot of data thrown in that article but it's hard to get any conclusions out of it.
     
  8. vojta

    vojta Registered Member

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  9. noone_particular

    noone_particular Registered Member

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    That figures.

    IMO, the most secure browser is one that:
    1, runs in a separate sandbox, not one that's included with the browser
    2, connects to the web via a strong filtering proxy that removes trackers and undesirable content

    By using a separate sandbox such as SandBoxie, the user is assured that all usage tracks are also deleted which includes everything the browser might log.
     
  10. siljaline

    siljaline Registered Member

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  11. Malwar

    Malwar Registered Member

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    Chrome is by far the most secure. You can change a few settings and add ublock and https everywhere and be as private as Firefox after tweaking Firefox.
     
  12. djg05

    djg05 Registered Member

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    I have tried this browser out and the first criticism I have is that it installs to the C drive. All my programs go to another partition. There should be install location offered. However you can cut and paste to another.
     
  13. Agree best to stick with chromium when you don't want the Google extras, now adobe has made PPAPI available for Opera and (other) Chromium based browsers http://chromium.woolyss.com/ For a smaller company it is impossible to keep up with the development and testing resources of Chrome/Chromium (release cycles and response times of bugs/exploits).
     
  14. Compu KTed

    Compu KTed Registered Member

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    Probably the most secure browser that meets my standards.

    Has to be configurable for security/privacy settings within the browser.
    Browser updates to new security fixes, but also depends on what other updates are being included.
    Works well with Sandboxie running in a tightly configured sandbox. (no double sandboxing)
    Has no default install of plugins/extensions. (I install these of my own choosing)
    Filters unwanted content/trackers through Internet connections via proxy.
    Stable ( no crashes) and compatible with other security apps I use.

    This would probably exclude me from using most of the top widely available popular browsers.
     
  15. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    This is a good question. Out of the box, I'd say Maxthon or Iron. If you include browsers and their add-ons, that's another thing entirely. I personally feel the safest in Firefox with NoScript, ABE, Flagfox and WOT.
     
  16. Rmus

    Rmus Exploit Analyst

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    From the article:
    Well, I've known this for *many* years!

    I used to search around for in-the-wild exploits targeting Opera, and never found any. I asked a few people in companies that tracked this stuff, and was told the same thing.

    Here are the CVE stats for Opera 12, showing one exploit in-the-wild with v.01:

    Opera » Opera Browser » 12.01 : Security Vulnerabilities
    http://www.cvedetails.com/vulnerabi...sion_id-139523/Opera-Opera-Browser-12.01.html
    No one I contacted had come across such a crafted web site.

    And for v.10 - no vulnerabilities since February/2014; no exploits in the wild have been recorded:

    Opera-Browser-12.10
    http://www.cvedetails.com/vulnerabi...sion_id-139526/Opera-Opera-Browser-12.10.html

    Does this make Opera "more secure?" I'll defer to a previous post:
    ----
    rich
     
    Last edited: Jan 11, 2015
  17. wat0114

    wat0114 Registered Member

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    If you have a fancy, well furnished home in the middle of a major inner city, and the same home in the middle of a vast, remote wilderness, is the latter more secure?
     
  18. Mayahana

    Mayahana Banned

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    Agreed. Most secure, most researched/tested, and most compatible. Also since Norton doesn't really function on anything else other than Firefox and Chrome, I have no real capability to run anything else if I wanted to because it would reduce my security overall. Opera simply doesn't have enough extensions I need, nor support from programs I use. What's that leave? Nothing really since Firefox is slower than Chrome, and breaks some pages.
     
  19. Rmus

    Rmus Exploit Analyst

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    It depends how you define "secure." Secure against what?

    A lot of security is a state of mind: how great is the fear factor? how comfortable do we feel about the particular situation under consideration?

    Some people feel more secure with bars on all windows. Others don't factor bars into their security precautions.

    It's all very individual and subjective.

    ----
    rich
     
  20. noone_particular

    noone_particular Registered Member

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    As far as I'm concerned, privacy is inseparable from security. Google isn't going to provide or support anything that's hostile to their data mining business model. I doubt that its sandbox is any better than that provided by SandBoxie. With any other browser and SandBoxie, I know that all of the stored usage tracks are gone when the sandbox is emptied and that nothing has been sent to Google. I don't trust Chrome to do the same and I'm not going to set up another virtual unit to test that when I have no intentions of using it.
     
  21. wat0114

    wat0114 Registered Member

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    I was just trying to draw an analogy to what was quoted regarding Opera's small user base making it more secure. If we're talking about security against home invaders, I would personally feel far more secure in the secluded home.

    Chrome/Chromium's sandbox is better on a certain O/S other than Windows, although I'm not sure how it, let alone its Windows sandbox, would compare in strength to Sandboxie.

    As long as the browser is allowed Internet access, as I'm sure it would have to be, I'm not sure how you can prevent anything being sent to Google unless you block all scripts, frames/iframes, cookies, and other active Google-related content, which can be done, on all websites that host it, but then I guarantee it will result in lots of broken web pages.
     
  22. noone_particular

    noone_particular Registered Member

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    Instead of blocking by type of content, it can be blocked by connection. When used without the supplied whitelists, Request Policy blocks most connections to Google. I also have a list of IP ranges used by Google (and Facebook) blocked by firewall rules. It does break a few sites that chose to use Google APIs.
     
  23. wat0114

    wat0114 Registered Member

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    that seems to be a pretty good blocking method, then. I use a script blocker to block tons of Google-related content but it's infiltrated the www so immensely, just like a major mafia family in a big city, that so much still seeps through, it seems to be a battle of attrition keeping it at bay, LOL!
     
  24. Malwar

    Malwar Registered Member

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    I agree.
     
  25. noone_particular

    noone_particular Registered Member

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    I use Proxomitron for much the same purpose. With Googles business model of collecting everything possible and infesting as many sites as possible, there's no way I could believe that any browser they're affiliated with wouldn't be designed to be friendly to that business model.
     
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